Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 7

Chapter 9

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE.

Once the thestral had touched down outside the castle, Merula hurried Dani down the corridor. Barely any words were spoken until Merula barged into the hospital wing ("You're causing our patients unecessary stress, Miss Snyde!" Madam Pomfrey yelled), looked around, and sprinted to one of the beds. "Murk! What happened? Are you okay? Did-"

"Be quiet, would you? I've got enough of a headache as is. I don't need you fussing over me."

"I'm not fussing! I'm... You know what? Never mind."

"Then can't you two just go away?!"

"Don't get worked up, you're supposed to be resting..."

Before she could interrupt the awkward exchange to ask what was going on, Dani noticed the same large claw marks she saw on Umbridge where Ismelda's sweater had been ripped near her left shoulder. "Do you know where you got those, Ismelda?"

"Oh, doing a little 'interview', are we, Jackson?" Merula scolded.

"To answer your question, absolutely not," said Ismelda. "I was going to the Three Broomsticks, saw a pair of big yellow eyes, next thing I know you two are annoying me here."

"Murk needs her rest, Jackson," said Merula.

"How about BOTH of you head in that direction..." Ismelda pointed at the door. "Keep going... not that difficult..."

"So... what are you going to do now, Jackson?" Merula asked uncertainly once they'd left the hospital wing.

"Well, I was at Madam Puddifoot's because a ministry official got attacked nearby and they sent me to make sure whoever dared do this paid-which is great because everyone else is chasing dogs around, but not great because said official is a creep and an a*shole. (Merula fails to surpress a smile.) But basically, I saw the same claw marks on Ismelda as the ministry lady. I'm heading to my dorm to see if there's anything that remotely fits in my textbook."

"Well, thanks a ton for helping Murk out. And good luck." Merula gave Dani a pat on the shoulder before running off.
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"So how was catching dogs, Miss Cursebreaker?" Tonks asked Dani. They were having dinner with Barnaby, Ben, Charlie and Liz to discuss their assignments for the day.

"Actually, Umbridge got attacked and Mr. Diggory sent me to investigate."

"Umbridge? You don't mean the awful woman in the pink cat office from last week?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And I think Ismelda was attacked by the same creature."

"Oh no, is Ismelda OK?" asked Liz.

"Yeah, just annoyed at me and Merula for turning up and asking questions. Both of them barely remembered anything about the attack, so my best guess is that a wampus cat did the job."

"But aren't they native to the USA?" asked Barnaby. "Can they swim?"

"There are other ways to transport creatures," said Liz. "But we'll need to catch it before anyone else gets hurt. Most big cats love munching on nifflers-"

"I can use Sickleworth," Ben offered.

"Ben, I was about to say that it was inhumane!" Liz said angrily.

"Come on, with three creature experts and two master spellcasters, he won't get hurt... right?"

"...Right," Liz agreed tentatively.

"So what do I do?" asked Tonks.

"Try not to mess up," replied Ben sarcastically. "So let's get into the specifics..."