Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 5

Chapter 12

After DADA, Dani walked up to Rakepick to debrief about the Fletcher incident, as they'd promised. Rakepick seemed concerned at the rate at which the group was advancing. "It's late November and watching you guys chase a dead lead is giving me a headache. No, what you need right now is a portrait."

"The one I found in the last vault?"

"What was on that painting?"

"...A dragon, right?"

"We need one of a cursed vault."

"So where do we start?"

"Figure that out yourself."
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"Huh? Wha' does Fang hafta do with the cursed vaults?"

"Not the vaults, we're just helping Percy find his rat."

"It's probably just in the common room for somethin'-"

"Jae and I had already turned it upside down before Percy came in saying that he lost Scabbers."

"Why?"

"We asked one of the house-elves in detention about a portrait of a cursed vault Rakepick was telling us to find, and he said that he'd heard about some Gryffindor wanting it, but that was years ago. I'm betting it was Alex, but we at least know their house, so..."

"Eh? I though' Liz told me the squad was gonna do research on it in the library-"

"It... Didn't exactly go as planned."

"You didn't find anything?"

"That, and..."
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"Still nothing?" moaned Dani in boredom. "Oh right, I forgot to ask, Badeea, what have you found? Like, before this?"

"Nothing much, even after chatting with the portraits on the grand staircase. I think Beatrice Haywood knows something, but-"

Tulip silenced her roomate and said, "Let's backtrack a little. Rakepick specifically mentioned a portrait of a cursed vault. Isn't that a bit... Oddly specific? It's like she knows more than we do."

"Isn't she SUPPOSED to? I mean, she's our professor?"

"No, I mean, it's like she's a step ahead of us in this. And other than Alex, who's stuck in the next vault, Duncan, who's living the life-kind of-in the prefects' bathroom, and Olivia, who's probably learned her lesson about tampering with the vaults, the only other person who could be 'a step ahead' is-"

"Tulip whatever-your-middle-name-is Karasu, you were there when I read the letter."

"No, it's just that it's all very fishy, don't you think?"

"Tulip," Merula said angrily, "we don't have the patience for conspiracy theories here. What the hell if-"

"Merula, Tulip has a point," Ben interjected, surprisingly firmly. "This all sounds out of place."

"And I can back him up," Penny gave her friend some moral support. "See-"

Jae growled. "No, Penny, look..."

The argument went on, getting more and more heated by the minute. And unknowing how to stop it, Dani, for once, wished Madam Pince was there to shut them up.

"If Rakepick was R, she'd want us to die, so she wouldn't be much better DADA professor than our old ones," Barnaby reasoned.

"Besides-" Bill started.

"Can someone ask Rakepick for me why I have to co-captain the squad with a freaking know-it-all?" Merula hit her fist onto the wooden table. "UGH!"

Percy stood up, grimacing. "Who did you just call-"

"Guys! Please, just stop! STOP!"

Everyone turned to Rowan, who seemed very agitated. "Why do we have to argue? Can't we all just work together?"

The group fell quiet, which Dani broke. "Thanks for your hard work, guys-I guess. Let's go the the great hall for dinner."

It wouldn't be long before the vault squad saw this as a drill. Maybe not even a drill.