The Time Room

[grumpy cat]

Time is a fickle friend, and it doesn’t appear to be on your side today. The Time Room is eerily empty - ever since all the Timeturners were destroyed, this room has been left largely untouched. There’s a thick layer of dust on everything, and the only source of light is coming in from the door left ajar behind you. You all know that there must be something of value to you in here - the room may no longer serve its original purpose, but surely something among the rubble can be used to get out of here.

You bend over to lift what appears to be a tarp of some sort when - BANG! The door slams behind you, and the entire room goes pitch black.

“It’s stuck!” someone in your group yells, and you hear them fiddling with the doorknob. Another person in your group has the idea to cast a quick Lumos, so the room is bathed in a faint glow. It doesn’t look like anything’s shifted as a result of the door slamming shut, but you’re most certainly trapped in here.

A sense of dread starts to rise within you; something evil is definitely afoot here, and it seems determined to trap you in this department until you’re as dead as the skeleton leaning against the wall. Wait… skeleton leaning against a wall? What happened in here?

Despite your better judgement, you find yourself walking towards the skeleton, feet moving automatically. Between its bony fingers is a sheet of paper, the ink on the page far fresher than the figure holding it. You cast a few experimental spells to see if the skeleton is cursed - better safe than sorry, you never know where curses might be lying in this place - but they all come back negative. Slightly reassured, you remove the paper from the skeleton’s clutches.

The paper bears a simple question: When they went back in time, who was the first one to see Harry and Hermione from the future?

You flip it over in your hands, only to be greeted with a second message. My answer will open the Time-Turner cabinet.

“Hey! I think I found a message on the wall!” one of your companions shouts, startling you. You tuck the paper in your pocket, determined to come back to it sooner rather than later.

Across the room, a few illuminated wands are making a clear message for you.

He loves me, he loves me not
(though names don’t matter, I’ve been taught)
Then scatter each in fragrant glory upon— not grass,
But here, where tides turn up bright glass

This seems like a clue to something… you’re not sure. But what you do know is, it sounds an awful lot like a title you remember seeing somewhere in the Archives. If you can figure out the title and search its contents, maybe it’ll help you piece together a clue to get out of here?

You’re about to get to work on solving this puzzle, when a piece of paper slides under the door. Someone else in your group picks it up, and the rest of you gather around to read what it says.

It looks as though it will spell out a secret message, but you’ll have to consult the bookshelf full of threatening-looking tomes about timekeeping to work out the solution. As you pull out the first book to search for answers, dust from the tops of the books spreading out like an ominous cloud around you, you can see that something is odd about this bookshelf - the back of it doesn’t look right. You pull more and more books off the shelf until they’re all sprawled out on the floor behind you, temporarily forgotten in pursuit of this mission.

The bare bookshelf now reveals itself to be not a bookshelf at all, but rather - a secret door. You reach for the copper handle, but immediately recoil as the metal sends a violent jolt up your arm. The handle itself starts to hiss, smoke spilling out until a message appears in the air in front of you.

How can we tame the temptress of time?

Perhaps the answer to the puzzle you and your companions were given will help you break this trapdoor’s enchantments. Time is of the essence, so it’s imperative that you get to work right away.