Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 6

Chapter 45

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE.
"Five years of waking up at midnight and I STILL HAVE ZERO IDEA HOW THIS F*CKING THING WORKS!!!!"

Swearing in the headmaster's presence isn't a good idea, kids... Unless you've been in his office for hours, listening to portraits talk, it's late, you're tired, and you're in a bad mood because you just tied up a murderer who happens to be your ex-professor and said headmaster is taking FOREVER to make arrangements with the ministry to come get her and clearly doesn't give a f*ck what you guys are doing either.

Merula peeked up from where Fawkes was preening his fiery orange feathers to where Ben was fiddling with Dumbledore's enormous telescope. (The Gryffindors had no idea what she found so interesting in a phoenix.) "Living proof that school is a waste of time." She turned to where Dani stood behind a blackboard and prodded it with her wand. "Studying already?"

"You'll be disappointed."

"I always have been." Merula turned back to Fawkes just as Dumbledore returned to his desk.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. We can talk now."

Dani spun the blackboard around so Dumbledore could see the however many 'I must not break school rules' she'd written on it.

"Head girl campaign already? I must admit, we do have a rather limited pool of candidates this year," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly. "Back on topic, a couple of things I'm curious about... What did you find in the vault?"

"Horrible memories."

"We watched Rowan die again."

"Ah. You don't live as long as I have without enduring loss and sorrow. Sharing your experiences may soften the pain."

Dani didn't reply. She'd learned better than to trust Dumbledore at this point. It appeared her friends thought the same thing.
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"VERMILLIOUS!"

Alex apparated onto the lakeshore. "And just when I thought I could catch a break, I get called on babysitter duty."

"Dude, I'm 16."

Alex laughed. "Anyway, as I was saying, I've been busy helping the aurors catch more dark witches and wizards. Including R-but we still don't have much on them. Rakepick and Shiratori are a start. Thanks to you."

"And Dumbledore is still trying to give us therapy."

"You're capable of much more than he thinks, sis. You know that."

"I do. Even Shiratori himself talked about R wanting to recruit me."

"Whoa."

"That coward even said something about me leading R in the future. How utterly ridiculous," Dani said with a smirk.
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"There you are!" Talbott ran to Dani as she appeared in the owlery. "I found this letter for you. From Ben. From last year."

Dani immediately recognized the date on the letter-the day they went to the buried vault not knowing if they'd make it out alive, the day Rakepick betrayed them all.

It had been 9 or 10 months, and a lot had changed. Their friend group fell apart, then came back together stronger than ever. There were farewells, reunions, and of course, tons of mischief sprinkled in.

Dani finished reading the letter. "Thanks, Talbott. This means a lot to me-and, I'm sure, to Ben too."
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Dani raised her butterbeer to cheers from her friends. "Here's to the most normal 15 months. Ever."

"I will ABSOLUTELY drink to that," said Ben before tossing back his drink. Your wish is my command. (Looks at the long slog that is 'HPHM-vault hunting')

Merula was gazing blankly at her classmates, and Penny was socializing like always was. Six years and a whole lot of fun, adventure, and more friends later, and they were still here.

Dani wished Rowan could've been celebrating with them.

Someone had set off fanged frisbees in the Hog's Head, chasing off all the patrons-save for the Circle, and the Weird Sisters who were practising their new song about a brave knight or something.

It was just another Saturday.

One Dani hadn't had for as long as she could remember.