Chapter Twenty-One

Uncover Deceit

Courtney, Albus, and Lynne waited on the staircase for them to arrive.

Scorpius emerged from the corridor alongside a sixth-year Slytherin. "Aster, this is Potter, Ibrams, and Glass. Potter, Ibrams, Glass; this is Aster."

"You didn't tell me the spell was for the other Houses," Aster said. "I don't think I'll be able to help after all."

"Well, why not?" Courtney questioned.

Aster looked at her. "Malfoy and myself are Slytherins. The House of deceit and trickery. Do you honestly think I'm going to help you perform a spell to let you know all of our tricks?"

"It's not the tricks of any Slytherin that we're looking for," Scorpius said clearly.

"Malfoy, Slytherin's power is trickery. For us to help them uncover deceit is to make a mockery of Slytherin's legacy. Remember, it will always be us against them." He looked at the other three students. "You all run along now, and don't ever mess with our House again."

"It's pretty obvious what we should do now," Lynne said.

"And that would be?" Albus asked.

"Find another older student who can help us. Someone who isn't from Slytherin. Someone like…"

"James!" Courtney exclaimed. "He'd be perfect, right?"

"He and I don't exactly get along," Scorpius said drily. "And since I'm the one with the spell's details…"

"What about one of the Prefects?" Albus asked. "They could help."

"No, they couldn't. Not for a spell like this, the kind that breaks school rules," Lynne pointed out. "James was a good idea. What if he didn't know you were there?"

"This was Ursula's," Lynne said as she held out a small glass of potion that she got from Ravenclaw Tower. "It's not much, but I didn't want her to notice we took it. It's Polyjuice Potion. If you drink it, your whole body will temporarily Transfigure into someone else's for one hour. All we need is a part of the person you want to become."

"A part? You mean, like, hair, right?" Albus asked.

Lynne nodded. "Hair, skin, fingernails, anything. Obviously, hair is recommended, though. So who should Scorpius become?"

Courtney raised her hand. "I think I may have an idea. Wait here."

Courtney came back, holding a couple bits of hair. "Here. Is this enough?"

"Perfect!" Lynne said. She took the hairs from Courtney and dropped them into the potion. Like magic, the potion changed from a dark muddy color to a light hazel brown.

Scorpius took the potion and drank it. He coughed a bit at the foul taste. "Not the worst thing I've ever tasted, but definitely the worst thing that wasn't a bean… Somehow, the hair is the best part, it tastes sort of… brilliant."

After a few moments, it was Elijah, rather than Scorpius, standing with them.

"Alright, we've got one hour," Lynne said brightly. "Now let's go get James. He's in the Gryffindor common room, right?"

"No," Albus said. "Today he's definitely somewhere else."

"You need something?" Calem asked.

"I need my brother's help with something," Albus said. "How much longer until practice is over?"

"Only ten more minutes."

Albus looked at Courtney, Lynne, and Elijah. "Ten minutes okay?" It had already taken them about fifteen minutes to get to the Quidditch field, and Albus didn't know how much time the spell would take.

"That gives us about half an hour," Lynne whispered to Elijah. "Is that enough time?"

"Positive." He and Lynne both gave Albus a thumbs-up sign.

"Remember," Courtney whispered to Elijah. "Your name is Elijah Garvin. You're in Hufflepuff. You're a member of the Light Magic Movement. You're Muggleborn. You-"

"What?" he gasped. "You made me a Mud-"

"Only for an hour," Courtney assured. "Besides, you really shouldn't think that way about Muggleborns. If nothing else, it makes you look bad."

The Gryffindor Quidditch players finally descended, and Calem led James to the group of first-years.

"Hey, Calem says you need something?" James asked them.

"There's this spell," Elijah said. "Outside of very special cases, it's beyond the abilities of a first-year student. We need an older student to help us with it and we chose you. So, can you help us? Please?"

James stood silently for a moment, then nodded. "Sure, why not?"

The five students walked away from the Quidditch field, closer to Hagrid's hut. "This spot should work," Lynne said.

"So, you need me to cast the spell," James said. "What's the incantation? The wand movements? How much magic should I use?"

"The incantation is Mendacium Fiantiverum," Elijah said. "All five of us will be standing in a circle, pointing our wands directly to the earth, at the center of the circle. The amount of magic will come naturally."

"Alright, let's go."

They were each about half a meter apart. Courtney stood between Lynne and Elijah when she pointed the wand between them like instructed.

"Mendacium Fiantiverum," each student said at once. A pulse of red light appeared at the point where all five wands were pointing.

The light immediately dispersed from that point, and hit all of them. Each of the first-years was now glowing faintly red, while James's glow was a far deeper shade.

"Well," Elijah said. "I guess now we know who it was."