Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 7

Chapter 3

"Dani!"

Corey nearly crashed right into Dani. "Follow Ismelda! Quick!"

"What?!"

"Merula gave her a black quill at the end of class! I thought those meant something to you guys! She's over there!" Corey pointed at Ismelda, who was headed for the grounds. "I need to follow Merula!"

"Got it!" Dani ran off after Ismelda, who was catching up to Talbott near the owlery.

Ismelda saw Dani as she turned to leave. "What's the hurry?"

"I wanted to talk to Talbott."

"Oh. I'll leave you two to it, then."

Once Ismelda was out of earshot, Dani asked Talbott, gesturing at the black quill in his hand, "What IS that? What did she tell you to do with it?"

"She told me to put it on the table in the owlery," replied Talbott.

"Can I see it?"

Talbott handed her the quill. "She didn't say you couldn't."

"REPARIFARGE!"

The meeting is on. Find me in the artefact room tonight at dinnertime.

Dani changed the note back into a black quill and gave it back to Talbott. "Thanks. You can leave this on the table like Ismelda told you."

She had a plan.
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"Almost feels like a date," said Corey with his mouth full. He was squished against Dani under her invisibility cloak, just outside the artefact room, munching on sandwiches as staked out for Merula and her contact. ("I hope it's that dark witch," said Dani.)

Dani rolled her eyes. Unless you counted the celestial ball, she and Barnaby didn't have the best track record with dates. Eating sandwiches under a tiny cloak probably beats being kicked out of a restaurant in the middle of a conversation about eyebrows and... whatever happened in Hogsmeade last Valentine's Day (although Barnaby totally made up for that).

"Crappy love life?"

"Not crappy, just... awkward. So we just stand here until Merula shows up?"

"Well, what would Conebush and Persimmons do?"

"...Ask my brother?"

"Well, in a detective novel, the culprit is never the first person you suspect. Conebush and Persimmons thought the niffler trainer stole the golden chalice, but the thief was actually the auctioneer who reported it missing in the first place."

"Honestly, I'd suspect the auctioneer straight away. Reporting a crime is the best way to take suspicion off yourself." (insert 4th-wall-breaking Among Us joke)

Corey stifled a laugh. "You've been doing this for too long."

"Maybe I have. And you're right-I still haven't worked out why Merula joined R after, you know, Rakepick."

"Talk of the devil." Corey pointed at Merula, who was entering the artefact room-with Badeea.

Corey and Dani tried to stay as quiet as possible as they made for the door-but it swung shut in their faces.

Corey pulled the cloak off. "Abort mission. Ugh."

"Geez, how many people are in on this?"

"I didn't think our classmates trust Merula this much either," groaned Corey.

Dani sighed, then turned around and knocked on the artefact room door.

"Come on in!" came Badeea's voice.

The door was shoved open, and Dani gave up on mincing her words. "Is this about R?"

"No, Merula and I are just doing our homework together. Flitwick's assignment has been giving me a real headache. You two can join us if you want. You saw the quill, didn't you?" said Badeea matter-of-factly.

"Well, what was the quill about then?" asked Dani.

"That was my mistake," replied Badeea. "I wanted a more private way to communicate, and I know about the association with dark wizards, but I feel like quills have also grown to become a symbol of our group. And I know R is still at large, but I thought they had better stuff to do."

Dani nodded. "Actually, I agree." Her gaze flickered to Merula, who was preoccupied with the scrawls on her parchment.

"I think it's suspicious you're being so secretive!" Corey remarked. "You could easily do it in the great hall, or your common rooms, but you choose not to!"

"That's the point, man," said Merula, not looking up from the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7. "It's a secret meeting because there's too many explosions and revenge plots against your house in the aforementioned two places for us to focus."

"And we have our NEWTs later this year," added Badeea. "If there's any time study hard, it's now."

"You know what, I prefer to study in loud and noisy environments. Let's go, Dani." Corey slammed the door shut. "Dani, I was thinking... Is it possible you misjudged Merula? She did teach you wandless and nonverbal magic, and she was just doing homework with her friend."

"I know what I saw, Corey," said Dani as they walked along the corridor.

"The real culprit is rarely the person you expect. Sometimes, people who seem guilty are innocent, and people who seem innocent are guilty. What you saw may not be the whole story, Dani," Corey reassured as they went upstairs.

"I know," said Dani thoughtfully. "I still stand by, well, Knockturn Alley. I just want to know why she joined R. And what they want with me. And at the end of the day, no matter who they report to or whether they even report to someone, I just want them to stop hurting good people-especially defenseless children."

"DANI!" Charlie yelled as Corey and Dani stepped in the portrait hole. "We're going to the ministry! You, me, Ben, and a bunch of other people!"

Corey gave Dani a pat on the back. "Lucky duck."

"Charlie, calm the hell down," said Ben. "You do realize we'll essentially be working part-time jobs now, right? And if we fail our NEWTs, we won't be going ANYWHERE."

"Why is everyone so worried about NEWTs in the first week of school?" whined Charlie.

"Our futures?"

"Pfft. Anyway, we have to meet Dumbledore after class tomorrow."