"Shh!" Zane hissed urgently. "Listen!"

        Delacroix was making a strange, rhythmic sound. Her shoulders shook slightly with it, and James realized she was laughing. "My dear, dear Theodore, I have never attempted to thwart you. Why, if I had not allowed a token resistance to your presence on dis trip, you'd have never chosen to come at all. Your stubbornness and suspicious nature are my best tools. And I needed you, Professor. I needed what you had, what you believed so ardently dat you were protecting."

        Jackson stiffened. "Do you believe I was foolish enough to bring the robe with me tonight? Then you are more arrogant than I thought. No, the robe is safe. It is secured with the best hexes and counter-Accio charms ever created. I know that, for they were createdby me. You shall not find it, of that I am certain."

        But Delacroix was laughing harder. She still hadn't turned around. The beam of light illuminating the chair seemed to be growing brighter, and James realized it was the accumulated light of the planets. They were moving into place. The time of the Hall of Elders' Crossing was nearly upon them.

        "Oh, Professor, your confidence cheers me. With enemies such as yourself, my success is all the more delicious. Do you think I haven't known all along dat you guarded the robe of Merlinus in your case at all times? Do you think I was not preparing for de robe to be delivered to me from the moment I first arrived here? I haven't had to lift so much as a finger, and yet de robe comes to me of its own accord dis very night."

James had a horrible thought. He remembered that day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, when Jackson had followed Professor Franklyn into the classroom, speaking in low tones. Madame Delacroix had come to the door to tell Jackson his class was waiting. James had glanced down at that moment, and the case had mysteriously come open. Was it possible that Madame Delacroix had caused that to happen, just so that James would see inside? Had she tried to use him somehow? He remembered Zane and Ralph saying that the capture of the robe had been easy. Somehow too easy. He shuddered.

        "James," Ralph whispered urgently, "you didn't bring the robe with you tonight, did you?"

        "Of course not!" James replied. "I'm not crazy!"

Zane leaned in to keep his voice as quiet as possible. "Then what's in the book bag?"

James felt terror and anger mingling inside him. "The Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak!"

        Ralph reached up and clutched James' shoulder, turning him so that they were face to face. Ralph's expression was horrible. "James, you don't have the Invisibility Cloak!" he rasped, his voice cracking. "I do! You left it with me in the Slytherin holding pen, remember? I used it to escape! It's in my trunk, back in the Slytherin boys' quarters!"

        James simply stared at Ralph, petrified. Below them, in the center of the Grotto Keep, Madame Delacroix continued to cackle.

        "Mr. James Potter," she called through her laughter, "please feel free to join us. Bring your friends if you so desire."

        James felt rooted to the spot. He wouldn't go down there, of course. He would run. He knew now that he had the robe of Merlinus in his book bag, that he had been tricked into bringing it along, tricked into thinking it was the Invisibility Cloak. Now was the moment to flee. And yet he didn't. Ralph pushed him, urging him to go, but Zane, on James' other side, slowly stood up and pulled out his wand.

        "The voodoo queen thinks she's pretty smart," he said out loud, stepping around the pillar and pointing his wand at her. "You're as ugly as you are evil. Stupefy!"

        James gasped as the bolt of red light shot from Zane's wand. The curse struck Madame Delacroix directly in the back and James watched for her to collapse unconscious. She didn't move, however, and James was dismayed to see that the bolt of red light had passed straight through her. It struck the ground near the throne and vanished harmlessly. Delacroix was still laughing as she turned to face Zane.

"Ugly, am I?" Her laughter dried up as her gaze met Zane's. She was no longer blind or old. It was, in fact, her wraith, the projected version of herself. "Evil? Perhaps, but only as a hobby." The wraith of Madame Delacroix raised a hand and Zane was lifted from his feet roughly. His wand flew from his hand and he thumped against the tree-pillar, his shoes three feet from the ground. He seemed to be stuck there, as if on a hook. "If I was truly evil, I would kill you now, wouldn't I?" She grinned at him, and then pivoted, pointing her arm at the place where James hid. "Mr. Potter, please, it is silly of you to fight me. You are, after all, almost my apprentice in dis endeavor. Bring Mr. Deedle with you. Let's all enjoy the spectacle, shall we?"

        Jackson had turned when Zane came forward, watching with a noticeable lack of surprise, his wand still out, but pointed at the floor. Now he looked on as James and Ralph stood jerkily, as if against their will, and began to march down the steps toward the center of the grotto. His eyes met James', his bushy dark brows low and furious. "Stop, Potter," he said quietly, raising his wand halfway, pointing it at the floor in front of James and Ralph. Their feet stopped moving, as if they'd suddenly landed in glue.

        "Oh, Theodore, must you prolong dis?" Delacroix sighed. She swung her arm toward him and performed a complicated gesture with her fingers. Jackson's wand flicked out of his hand as if on a string. He grabbed for it, but it darted up and away. Delacroix made another gesture with her hand, and the wand snapped in midair, as if broken over a knee. Jackson's face didn't change, but he slowly lowered his hand, staring hard at the two pieces of his hickory wand. Then he turned back to Delacroix, his face white with fury, and began to pace toward her. Delacroix's hand moved like lightning, darting into the folds of her clothing and coming out with her horrible graperoot wand between her fingers.

        "Dis may only be a representation of de real thing," she said playfully, "conjured from the dirt of dis place, just like dis version of myself, but I assure you, Theodore, it is exactly as powerful as I think it is. Don't make me destroy you."

        Jackson stopped in his tracks, but his face didn't change. "I can't let you go through with this, Delacroix. You know that."

        "Oh, but you already have!" she cackled gleefully. She pointed the wand at Jackson and flicked it. A bolt of ugly orange light shot from it, sending Jackson flying violently backwards. He landed hard on the upper stone steps, grunting in pain. He struggled to get up, and Delacroix rolled her eyes. "Heroes," she said disdainfully, and flicked her wand again. Jackson flew off the ground and rammed against another of the tree-pillars lining the grotto. He hung there, apparently knocked unconscious.