LANCASTER / H. POTTER

TEN

Copeland had recalled her mother telling stories about the secret room in Hogwarts that opened up a door to anyone in need; The Room Of Requirement. At first speculation, Copeland imagined the room as a glorified crawl space for those who might want to hide from Filch or Miss Norris, or Snape. But now that she was there, surrounded by treasures from different lifetimes, basking in the histories of thousands of students who had once set foot in the room...she apologized to it silently in her head, not wanting to offend it and all its majesty.

As she predicted, Draco's "Wizard Duel" was nothing but a tactic to lure Harry out of his room after curfew, and get him in an immense amount of trouble. But of course, it became an even sweeter deal for Malfoy as Ron and Copeland tagged along. Then as Hermione, being a busy body, as usual, got locked out of the Gryffindor Commons Room when The Fat Lady disappeared from the painting on the door. Then even more sweet, when they discovered Neville sleeping in the corridors, wrist completely intact, because he couldn't remember the password. Daft boy.

Ron had looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.

"If either of you gets us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you!" He whispered harshly, redder in the cheeks than usual.

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn, Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were more fortunate than he thought they would be. They sped silently up the staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room. They thought everything was going too smoothly, even Malfoy had chickened out, before they heard the hacking, rasping voice of none other than Argus Filch.

In the midst of their spastic running, Copeland lost them in the dark and was forced to find somewhere else to hide.

"Has an ickle little firstie strayed away from her wee little pack? Oh, this is too fun," Peeves cackled. Copeland looked at him pleadingly, before remembering something from the banquet. The rest of the Hogwarts ghosts were arguing about what they should do with him.

"If you show me where to hide, I'll tell you what the rest of the ghosts were saying about you on the first day back to school!" Copeland squeaked, legs shaking as she heard Filch's footsteps down the hallway. Peeves suddenly looked interested, and with a swish of his hand, a door opened up in the wall.

Copeland rushed in and turned back to the Poltergeist, a grateful smile plastered on her face as she lingered in the doorway.

"They were all talking about punishing you somehow, only the Fat Friar was defending you, but it wasn't doing much good," Copeland admitted breathlessly. If it was even possible, she saw Peeves go white in the face, before the door to the secret room sealed on its own.

Copeland didn't know how long she had been in the room by now, time didn't seem to exist there. But it didn't matter much to her, she had found a plethora of things to keep her occupied. The Ravenclaw Diadem, as she had seen in the books Hermione insisted on showing her, shimmered magnificently underneath the low lights of The Room. Things from books to trophies, to enchanted boxes and cases, to small gadgets piled high on top of each other, creating a mountain of artifacts that Copeland was inevitably drawn to.

But there was one thing, in particular, that's she couldn't help but tinker with.

It was a tiny purple case with gold trimming, creating the figure of a Phoenix on the top. She had climbed the pile of treasure at least a couple feet to get her hands on it. Inside of it, was a time turner, one very similar looking to the one her mother had locked up in her closet. She wasn't exactly sure how it worked.