Hogwarts Mystery Year 7

The Rematch

"So...is the entire wizarding world dangerous all the time, or does trouble just follow our friend group like porlocks to horses?" asked Penny. 

They were all in the library, and the others had just filled them in on what had happened in the ministry, including everything they knew about the impostor.

"I'm gonna go with...yes," said Charlie.  

"Who would want to break into the ministry?" asked Andre. "Foreign spies?"

"Genius pranksters?" guessed Tulip. 

Members of a dark wizarding cabal, Sarah thought to herself, but she only bent her head over Barnaby's summary, pointing out any spelling errors. 

She tuned out of the conversation for a while, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to find Corey hovering over her. 

"Hey, I've got some Head Boy and Girl duties to discuss with you," he said, giving her a conspicuous wink. 

"Uh, right." She stood up. "Be right back," she told the others, walking with Corey to an empty aisle of books. 

"I've been looking all over for you," Corey whispered, so fast Sarah hardly registered it. "Our target skipped lunch today for some suspicious activity." 

"What happened?"

I noticed her sneak off after potions, so I followed her," said Corey. "She went to the Whomping Willow!" He deflated when Sarah failed to look surprised. 

"That makes sense," she said. "We figured out last year that R left messages for each other there."

"That's what she did!" said Corey. "She took a black quill out of her pocket, levitated it, and left it at the base of the tree!" 

"Did you go get it?"

"No, I didn't go get it, are you crazy?"

"Right," she said, rubbing a hand over her face. "Sorry. There's a way to get close to the tree without getting decapitated. You have to--"

"It's not just that, Sarah. The whomping willow is out of bounds!" 

Sarah gave him a puzzled look. "Yeah? But as I was saying, to get up to it--" 

Sarah! We're Head boy and girl!" 

"Yes, I know." She didn't understand what he was on about.

"We can't just march around in disregard for the rules!" he whispered frantically. "We're here to help enforce the rules! The rules are sacred! You don't get to where we are today by breaking all the rules. I'm still sweating because I didn't punish Merula for messing with the tree herself!" 

Sarah refrained from snorting. She wondered if Corey had ever interacted with Rowan much; they would've gotten along well. 

"Come on, Corey. You're telling me you've never broken a  single school rule?"

Corey paled. "Once," he admitted. "I turned in a library book late. It was an accident, I swear. I just forgot about it. Pince took away ten house points for Gryffindor, and now I don't check books out anymore, just to be safe." 

"What do you do when you need a book?"

"I just stay in the library with it for hours, and hope no one else checks it out if I still need it the next day."

"Alright then," she said. "Look, I appreciate your stance on the rules, Corey. You really deserve the Head Boy position. But sometimes, the rules have to be...side-stepped. If I'd never broken a school rule, Hogwarts would probably still be cursed." He shuddered, and Sarah plowed on. "We've got to find out what Merula is up to, or more people might get hurt. Going up to that tree is the only way."