Chapter 22

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"Professor, am I in-"

"No, you aren't," replied the headmaster. "Miss Alves, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Sure!" The teenage girl standing in front of Dumbledore's desk held out her hand excitedly. "Ola! I'm Alanza Alves from Castelobruxo!"

Dani politely shook Alanza's hand. "Hi Alanza, I'm Dani Jackson."

"Since Miss Alves will be joining your dormitory during her stay, I thought you could help her get settled in here. You know, introduce her to classmates and professors, show her around campus..."

"That'd be a huge help, I have a terrible sense of direction," said Alanza. "In my first year, I got lost in the jungle surrounding Castelobruxo for a week."

"I like you already," said Dani.
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"Do you have any plans for today? What to Hogwarts students do at the weekends?" Alanza asked over cereal the next morning.

"Third-years and up go to Hogesmeade on Saturdays. Other than that... I dunno. I have to meet up with some friends today."

"Can I come with you?"

Dani saw no harm, although she didn't want Alanza to get traumatized of Hogwarts so soon. "Why not?"

After breakfast, Dani took Alanza to the training grounds, where Badeea and Talbott were updating the map of the Black Lake.

"You've brought a guest," Talbott pointed out.

"Nice to meet you guys! I'm Alanza Alves. I enjoy long flights through the rainforest, and spells that make things explode, and laughing until my sides hurt, and-"

"You're quite the talker," said Talbott.

"...Oh. Am I being too much?"

"No, we have lots of unique personalities here at Hogwarts. You like to express yourself and there's nothing wrong with that. I do too, through art."

As Badeea introduced herself and Talbott, Dani's mind went back to Rowan's death and how her classmates acted about it-but Alanza brought her back.

"So Badeea, did you draw that map? It's breathtaking. Is that a lake? Is it at Hogwarts? Can I see it?"

"Maybe later," replied Dani. "Well, Badeea? What I'm here for?"

"We've scoped out a couple more of the finer details, but still nothing, you know, important or of interest."

"That's not all bad, keep up the good work. We'll find SOMETHING one of these days."

As they left the training grounds, Alanza asked, "Are you looking for something near the lake?"

"Yeah, in case it wasn't obvious enough," said Dani. "There are many mysteries and secrets at Hogwarts."
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Monday went well for the most part-until the last class of the day, Potions.

Alanza slowed down to listen as Snape said to Filch and Pince, "I woke to find my supplies of ashwinder eggs, murtlap tentacles and occamy eggshells had been raided."

"And three of the library's texts on advanced potions are also unaccounted for," added Pince.

"Sounds like we've got a student up to no good," Filch said maliciously.

"Ola! I'm Alanza Alves from Castelobruxo," Alanza made herself known.

"Well, uh... Alanza, that's Professor Snape, the Potions professor, Madam Pince, the librarian, and Filch, the caretaker," said Dani awkwardly.

"And my cat, Mrs. Norris," said Filch, gesturing to the cat at his heels.

"So this is the exchange student who will be joining my Potions class," remarked Snape.

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