Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 6

Adventures in Cursebreaking Part 3

Apparently, portkey-landing on a mountain with loads of open space is much better than in some creepy, claustrophobic puzzle room.

"Look! That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! And a Welsh Green! It's the best day of my life!"

Dani was staring at the mean-looking dragon on the cliffs. "And that's a Hungarian Horntail."

"Like the one from the vault?" asked Penny.

"I can't really tell if it's a mother from here, but I hope it didn't take the egg. You guys know that those things are no joke," said Angelica.

"I'm not scared!" exclaimed Charlie. "So should we split up to cover more ground?"

"We'll start searching TOMORROW," coached Angelica. "We don't have a ton of daylight left and we still need time to set up the tent."

"Wouldn't want to get lost in dragon territory after nightfall, would you?" mocked Merula.

"Let's just get started," said Angelica. "And if you forgot, we have to cast PROTECTIVE WARDS around the campsite, not fireproof salve..."
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That evening, with a magically-protected campsite and a roaring campfire...

"This is nicer than I imagined," said Penny. "What more could you need?"

"Spine-tingling horror stories," said Barnaby between bites of his chicken wing.

"Bill told me about this time he encountered a mummy on a mission. Mummies are creepy, right?" said Charlie.

"Ooh, did he get his soul sucked out?" asked Merula.

"It was a mummy, not a dementor, Merula. And he just blasted it to pieces."

"That sounds fun," said Dani.

"That's more adventure than horror," said Merula. "It'd be nice to have a bad ending sometimes. This world isn't all sunshine and rainbows."

"I do think encountering a mummy in the line of duty is scary enough," Penny chimed in.

"Come on, Hufflepuff, what's NOT scary for you guys?"

"Yeah, tell us a story, Penny!" agreed Dani.

"Once upon a time, there were six friends who went on a lovely camping trip to find a golden dragon egg. A very nice mother dragon simply handed over the egg and let us leave unscathed-"

"So the story's about us?" asked Barnaby.

"If that's the case, then I think the scariest part is that I'm one of the 'friends'," said Merula.

"Anyway, has anyone ever heard of the tale of the bloodthirsty broom?"
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A few minutes of listening to Barnaby's scary story later...

"Once the bloodthirsty broom had drunk its fill of wizard blood, it flew off into the night and was never seen again, but on dark nights like tonight, when the moon is full, you might just hear the broom outside your room... SWEEPING THIRSTILY!"

"AHHHHHH!"

"Geez, we should REALLY plant a magical sweeping broom outside the Hufflepuff dormitory someday, Jackson, once we've dealt with the final vault."

"Can we play truth or dare? Pretty please?" Charlie pleaded Angelica.

"Fine, as long as one of you doesn't get fed to the horntail... Or anything like that for that matter."

"Of course we won't," said Penny. "Dani, truth or dare?"

"Ooh, I've got an idea for a dare!" Charlie leaned over and began whispering to Penny, and soon both of them were in a fit of giggles. Dani looked over at Barnaby, who was obliviously toasting a marshmallow. She blushed and evaluated her options.

"Truth."

"Geez, we had the best dare for you," said Charlie.

"Hm... Who, out of the five of us, would you want to spend a night in the forbidden forest with?"

Dani breathed a sigh of relief that Penny didn't ask the question she was prepared to hear (and dreading). "I'm not sure, I'd probably be fine on my own and I don't plan on doing anything INAPPROPRIATE..." No, seriously, I swear if they come up with a forest date-

Most of the group cracked up at this.

"Don't even think about it," said Penny. "Chiara for one could still walk in on you."

"Exactly," said Dani. "But honestly, I could have fun feeding Merula to a werewolf."

"HEY!"

"I do hope that wasn't as scary as Penny's story. Anyway, Merula, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Merula said without hesitation.

"Ooh, I have a good one this time! Just a sec..." Penny slipped into the tent and came back out with one of Hagrid's infamous rock cakes. "It was very nice of Hagrid to leave some of these with us. Merula, your dare is to eat this."
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A few rounds later...

"Charlie, truth or dare?"

"You've heard enough embarrassing childhood stories! Dare!" said Charlie giddily.

"Ah, I've got it," said Merula with a smirk. "Be the one to get the egg tomorrow."

"Of course! Is that all you've got?" replied Charlie, a wide smile on his face.

"Oh come on Weasley, we all know Jackson will be the one to finish the job. What have you done with us anyway?"

"I-"

"Don't forget, Haywood has an even better track record with dragons than you have-"

Before Charlie or Merula could say another word, Penny interrupted. "It's getting late, let's get some sleep so we have energy to find the egg tomorrow," she said, standing up. Charlie sighed and followed her in, and Merula begrudgingly accepted a s'more from Barnaby before the Slytherins went inside as well.

Outside the tent, after a long, awkward silence, Angelica said, "Merula's not wrong. But if Charlie were to actually pursue a career in dragons, that enthusiasm would most certainly help him out."

Dani nodded.

"Bill told me about the Circle of Khanna. How are things going so far?"

"Good, I guess."

"I'm glad you guys decided to do this. I reckon this will help massively against R."

"I do hope so."

"You guys are closer than ever to the final vault. You can't afford to give up anytime soon."

More awkward silence.

"Let's head inside, shall we?"

"OK."

As Dani slipped into the large tent after Angelica, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned around to see the tent flap flutter behind her. She briefly thought about the bloodthirsty broom, but quickly dismissed the thought and went to bed with everyone else.

It's probably gonna be fine. -Joel Clewis