Chapter Twenty-Two
Answers
"James, do you know anything about the note that was left on my bed?" Albus asked. "The one telling us to go to Hagrid's?"
"Only what your friend told me," James said, gesturing to Courtney. The red glow grew brighter around James's chest.
"He's lying," Elijah said. "And I have to wonder why the lies are centered at your chest. What's there?"
"Wingardium Leviosa," Lynne said, pointing her wand at James. Around his neck was a golden necklace, with an hourglass in the pendant.
"Hey, I saw one of those before," Courtney said. "Mr. Potter had me check it for Dark magic."
At this point, it was clear that no lies would help James at all. "It's a Time Turner. Twenty years ago, the Ministry's stock of them was destroyed. They only recently started making them again, and there's only about seventeen intact ones in Britain. You can use it to go back in time by the hour. I used it to write the note that led you guys to Hagrid's."
"You wrote the note? Why?" Elijah asked.
James gestured to Courtney again. "She told me that you found a note telling you to go to Hagrid's. And that the mystery voice from before told her to use the Levitation Charm to save a hippogriff egg. I went back in time to write the note and leave it there."
"How'd you know you were supposed to write it?" was Albus's question.
"The mystery voice. I figured it made sense for me to lead you to that situation. I never let the timeline go messed up like that - If someone tells me they found a note, I make sure there's a note."
A thought struck Courtney. "Are you the mystery voice too? How?"
"Yeah. At first, when I just told you to go to Vector's office, I didn't know for sure. You guys told me about the voice that led you to Vector's. I just went back in time to see if I could find out where it came from. When nobody else showed up… I whispered the message myself. Because I couldn't let the timeline change itself."
"You whispered it?" Lynne asked. "But we were there. We would've seen you-"
Albus's eyes widened. "You have it, don't you? Dad's old cloak?"
James nodded, then grinned slightly. "Among a few other things. So I've got to ask: How'd you know it was me? Since you asked me to help you out."
"We didn't," Elijah said. "Anyone who was lying or hiding something would have had the same glow. The fact that we were the ones who cast the spell meant that only we could actually see it. The fact that your glow was so bright helped us a lot. In other words, we were lucky."
"But you're all glowing, too," James pointed out. "So all four of you are lying, even though half of you are Hufflepuffs?"
Elijah raised his hand. "Slytherin. Polyjuice. Scorpius Malfoy." The red glow on him faded somewhat.
"In the Room, we saw Slytherin's entire past," Lynne interjected. "The House isn't that bad, trust me."
James sighed. "I will for now. How long until this spell wears off?"
"About ten more minutes," Elijah said.
With all their mysteries solved, and all loose ends tied up, the five students went back to their Houses.
Meanwhile, in the dungeons of Hogwarts, a man raised a glass and grinned. It's been a long time, he thought. But I'm back…
Author's Note: So much of this story has now deviated somewhat from my original intentions. While I knew from the beginning that James had a Time Turner and the Invisibility Cloak, I had actually wanted Courtney and her friends to not find out about this until at least third-year. With that said, this should not detract from the series as a whole.
This is indeed the last chapter of Courtney Glass and the Castle of Life. Look for the sequel, Courtney Glass and the Face of Evil, at this link: s/11149004/1/Courtney-Glass-and-the-Face-of-Evil