Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 7

Chapter 7

"You lot are the most suspicious people I've seen today, wouldn't you agree?"

"Can we have another look at the list of people who came in today?" asked Dani.

"If it stops you all from loitering, then go ahead."

Dani starts flipping through the papers. "Wait..."

"Found something?"

"It says here Reg Cattermole and Wilkie Twycross came in at 8." Dani flipped a few pages. "Then it says Reg came in again." She looked up. "Mr. Munch, you saw him leave, didn't you?"

"Pretty sure I didn't."

"He could've left via another entrance," Tonks suggested.

"But you can't deny that's suspicious, Tonks," said Ben. "Thanks, Mr. Munch. Guys, Cattermole is at the Beast Division, right? Let's go find him!"
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"Roland, we're still missing one of the bloodhounds!" yelled Amos Diggory. "Tell Magical Maintenance to pick it up!"

"We're trying! It's pandemonium in here!"

Tonks was first to step into the room. "What's going on in here?"

Barnaby gave her a playful jab. "What you like. And what I like too."

"Dad!" Dani ran straight to Roland Jackson, who smiled widely upon seeing his daughter.

"Hey, kiddo. How's the auror office?"

"Could be more interesting."

Mr. Jackson chuckled. "Then you're in the right place. Ah, nice to see you again, Charlie! And the rest of you must be their classmates... Amos, are they supposed to have duties here, or-"

"They're supposed to be at your department or the Auror Office!" Amos yelled as he scribbled on a list. "I told Wilkie to handle them while I did, well, this!"

"But you sent us to Umbridge's office," Charlie pointed out.

"Why would I be the one to send the students anywhere?" Mr. Diggory shouted back. "I've been here all morning! Roland, back me up!"

"Dani, are you guys looking for someone here, or is there anything we can help you with?" asked Mr. Jackson.

"We were looking for Reg Cattermole," replied Dani.

"Hey Reg!" Mr. Jackson waved Cattermole over.

"I told you, Magical Maintenance has done everything-"

"Did you leave the ministry after 8? Through another entrance?" Tonks inquired.

"No," Cattermole answered. "We were in a meeting all morning, discussing regulating ways people enter the ministry and this entire albino bloodhound crisis."

"Have you seen anything suspicious?" asked Dani.

"Hm... My wand was in my overcoat this morning, but I haven't seen it since-"

"Crap!" Tonks facepalmed. "I left my wand at the Auror Office! Be right back!"

"But yeah, I haven't seen anything e-ouch!" Reg exclaimed as one of the bouncing crates hit him in the ankle. "What do you want, stinky dog?" He asked angrily as he unlocked the crate.

Curled in a near-fetal position in the box with her legs outstretched at the lid, panting, was Nymphadora Tonks. Her eyes widened when she saw Cattermole. "YOU! I thought I'd be buried alive or something!"

"What's a human doing in here, anyway? It smells!"

"I didn't know wizards did that muggle magic trick where one moment they're somewhere and the next they're somewhere else," said Ben thoughtfully.

"Well I've been trying to kick my way out of a doggy crate for the past several minutes!" Tonks grumbled.

"No, you said you left your wand at the Auror Office and had to go get it," said Liz.

"My wand is in my pocket!" Tonks took it out and waved it in Liz's face. "I would've used it if I wasn't going to blow myself up as well!"

"I'm confused," Barnaby remarked.

"We can get back to Moody and discuss what we've learned," Ben suggested. "Anything we want to do before that?"

"I want to see if we can find Mr. Cattermole's wand," said Dani. "Just to rule that out. Mr. Cattermole, when was the last time you saw your wand?"

"When I registered it with Eric this morning."

"And when did you realize it was gone?"

"During the meeting."

"Was it in the room where you had the meeting?"

"I'm sure someone would've seen it."

"Did you go straight to the meeting?"

"No, I went to my office to pick up my file."

"Let's go there, see if it fell out of your pocket or something."
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"Back already?" asked Twycross as Cattermole led the students inside.

"Mr. Twycross, can we confirm that Mr. Cattermole came in at 8 with you this morning?" asked Ben.

"He did. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron and used the floo network. He was in an awful hurry and ran up here to grab something before heading back down."

Dani picked up a wand that had rolled under a desk. "Mr. Cattermole, is this your wand?"

"Why, yes! What is it doing under Mafalda Hopkirk's desk? I barely know her!"

"Is anyone else even more confused?" asked Barnaby.
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"So what do we all know?" Moody asked the students.

"Mr. Cattermole was in hurry to get to a meeting this morning, but also found the time to leave the ministry through a side door, come back in, lock Tonks in a crate, and lose his wand near some random coworker's desk."

"Tonks ran off to get her wand in the Auror Office before showing up moments later, in a crate, with her wand."

"Any other suspicious things you saw or heard?"

"Mr. Diggory denying that he sent us to Umbridge instead of Twycross?"

"Students, the things you have just noticed are all textbook cases of being in more than one place at once. Which means someone impersonated Mr. Cattermole here, took his wand, locked Miss Tonks in a crate, impersonated Miss Tonks, and joined your group. And likely impersonated Mr. Diggory before that and led you to the wrong office."

"So they were using polyjuice potion?" asked Ben.

"Maybe they're a metamorphmagus like me," said Tonks. "I know they're really rare, but they, you know, exist. And I didn't feel anyone pluck my hair-although I might've been unconsious. Did you feel anyone pluck your hair, Mr. Cattermole?"

"No?"

"Metamorphmagi can change their appearance at will, so you won't see them pointing a wand at themselves or drinking a gross potion, nor would you feel them plucking your hair. Remind you of someone, Dani?"

"Changing their appearance at will..."
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Dani watched at the dark witch's smile of approval twisted. She now had a plumper face and more wrinkles, and looked to be about the same age as Dani's parents. "Well, I'll have to give Danielle Jackson some credit that her subordinates aren't always late. So many adventuring parties fail just because they aren't in the right place at the right time, Merula."
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"The dark witch!" gasped Dani.

"That we saw with Shiratori at the R meeting?" Tonks asked, shocked. "You saw her again?!"

Dani nodded, and Moody sighed. "I'm not surprised at this point, dark wizards coming in and wreaking havoc on the wizarding world. Anyway, back to the windows, our best shot at repairing them right now seems to be Mr. Cattermole's wand. Finding out what spells it used will take a week, and even longer if we add it to the very long waitlist we already have, so I'd suggest you guys take this to your Charms professor."