Chapter 18

Cnorth

Beta: Winthrops Slayer

Disclaimer: All HP Characters belong to JKR.

A/N: Glad I sound more like you, dear. I do try. And thanks to everyone else who reviewed as well. And whitv, why EVER would YOU want to hear more about Whitney? sighs patiently FooFoo, I hope you enjoyed your discovery!

Nearly two months passed without incident. Everyone continued their schooling, Courtney included, although under strange circumstances. She had been found under an unused bed in the Slytherin 6th year girls dorms, and had spent several days in the hospital wing recovering from malnutrition and dehydration. After she began feeling better, she was sorted into Gryffindor, but due to the lack of beds that were in that house, she joined Lori in the Ravenclaw dorms, where there was the most space.

Valentines Day was approaching quickly, and Lori and Courtney, out of sheer boredom, had been spending most of their time tinkering away on some project in the dorm. From time to time, Lori left to see Neville, agonizing during the time she spent with her friends over what to get him for the upcoming holiday, just as many of the others were doing in regards to their boyfriends.

Finally, the heart-filled holiday arrived, and McGonagall had cancelled classes for the day, having received a dinner invitation from Mad-Eye Moody that she would rather not pass up in favor of school food, no matter how good the food was.

Chelli, Whitney, Laura, Courtney, Jenny, and Brittany were on their way to transfiguration when Pansy Parkinson passed them in a white plastic micro mini and a hot pink tube top. Chelli winced, turning to the others and saying, "What are they teaching here, hookerism?" This got a laugh from the girls as they filed into the classroom where McGonagall was patiently waiting for time for class to arrive. They were finally up to date on this subject, and were learning human transfigurations now, such as the one that Viktor Krum had used during the second task of the triwizard tournament. Though all of the Winthrop students usually sat together, today they broke up into pairs with their boyfriends, most of whom were also in the class. Jenny had started dating Dean Thomas, Whitney and Oliver had been together since the Halloween ball, Laura had ended up in a tentative relationship with Michael Corner, and Chelli was, of course, still dating Fred.

Brittany and Courtney, the only two without readily available boyfriends (Brittany had a boyfriend named Kevin, but he didn't go to Hogwarts, and Courtney didn't have a boyfriend at home, and hadn't been around Hogwarts long enough to get one yet), paired off for the class period, shooting looks of jealousy at some of the couples.

The rest of the day went much the same, with none of them spending much time as a group, until the meeting Lori had called that night to unveil what she and Courtney had been working on for the past couple of weeks. Everyone arrived in the group common room within 15 minutes of 9 o'clock, which had been the appointed time, and before long, the meeting was ready to begin.

"As you all know, Courtney and I have been slaving away on this project for quite some time now. Hollie, you may recall that about a month and a half ago, I came to you complaining to be bored…"

Hollie cut her off, saying, "Don't you do that every day?"

Lori smiled, but nodded, and continued, "Yes, but everyday you don't give me the answer you gave me this one day in particular. You told me to go build a time machine, rather than your usual of just saying "I'm sorry" or "I can't help that". Little did you know, however, that I not only took you seriously, but that I managed to build a successful time machine, which, I might add, has all natural fuel and does not pollute."

Lori was quite the environmentalist, so while no one else really cared about this as much, they all nodded and went along with it, caring more about the fact that Lori had discovered a way in which anyone could manipulate space and time, rather than having to have Jenny's assistance, like they currently had to.

"I took a test run in it this morning, and established that it can definitely go back in time for a couple of hours. However, I need a test group to see whether or not it can do what a time turner can't…go back more than a year. In fact, the test group would be going back approximately 20 years. You would still be somewhere in the area surrounding Hogwarts when you arrived, although not the exact same place since I suck at math and therefore didn't figure for all of the variables, such as the rotation and revolution of the earth. Ballpark estimate, though, you shouldn't be more than a mile away. I will be going, and I need four other people to go with me. I'd like to have Joe and Courtney stay here, or should I say, now, since they are the only other ones with easy access to the machine, since it is in the Ravenclaw dorms, and can't be moved. Any volunteers?"

Hands immediately flew up into the air. Lori smiled…this was going to be funnnnn….

A/N: I haven't decided yet who all gets to go…so if you are in the story, please review and tell me whether you want to go or not. Also, please start telling me (this part is for everyone who is reading this!) what book or movie or tv show universe the next Winthrop story should be in. I will be writing a sequel that is in the HP verse, but I really would like to expand this into a whole series.