Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 6

Chapter 33

"Come paint with us!" Alanza waved Dani over to where she was with Andre outside the castle.

"Sure!"

"The grounds are far grander at Castelobruxo, but this will do," said Alanza as she painted the whomping willow.

"By the way," Andre asked Dani as he passed her a tube of paint, "are you here to ask the style wizard for a Rakepick outfit? Talbott and Tulip still haven't shut up about how Jae-"

"Yes, and I know," said Dani.

"Her brooch will be a bit hard to replicate, but if I can't do it, my name isn't Andre Egwu. You can count on me, just focus on convincing R that you're an ax-crazy ex-professor."

"Thanks, man. I honestly don't think Rakepick is THAT hard to imitate." She put a hand on her hip and pouted, "Can we get on with this meeting and stop blabbering about how Harry Potter starts at Hogwarts next year?" (as in it's 1990 and HP starts in 1991)

"I have to agree," laughed Andre.

"I always thought the name Rakepick sounded familiar, and I finally remember why!" Alanza suddenly exclaimed behind them. "Dani, remember when I told you I got lost in the Castelobruxo jungles for a week? Rakepick was the one who found me!"

"Really?!"

"What was she doing in Castelobruxo, anyway? Is there hidden treasure or anything like that?"

"She was investigating the ruins at Castelobruxo when she stumbled upon a first-year wandering in the jungle. I remember that she smelled like cinnamon."

"Cinnamon... That'll be interesting to work into murderer-"

The bell rang, and the students hurriedly packed up to go to their next classes.

"As always, time is, quite literally, of the essence for Potions class," Snape scolded the last sixth-years to enter his dark classroom. "Get to work."

Students fumbled around for ingredients, reread Advanced Potion-Making yet again to figure out the instructions, or poked their heads into their cauldrons every two seconds to make sure their potion wasn't an about-to-explode black.

"Professor, what was Rakepick like as a student?" Dani asked as Snape came over to make sure nobody was about to blow up a bookshelf.

"That was five stirs, Miss Jackson."

Dani abruptly stopped stirring as Snape rushed to stop someone from the next table from adding the wrong herbs.
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45 minutes later...

"While I am not at all satisfied with our NEWT progress, not having anything violently explode today was an achievement for this class," Snape spat as weary students packed up. "Maybe I'll consider listening to your Professor McGonagall and not kicking E students out of my class. You're all dismissed except Miss Jackson."

Dani walked up to Snape as everyone else scampered out. "You asked me a question in class, and I shall answer. Patricia Rakepick is the third most conceited schoolmate of mine. If you're curious, the first two were marauders. Now for a question for you: have you ever wished to be a normal student, Miss Jackson?"

Dani couldn't answer. She'd obviously love not having to worry about curses befalling Hogwarts and her friends getting hurt, but then she'd miss out on the thrill of vault-hunting...

"You can think about it until you get to Care of Magical Creatures and nearly get eaten by your professor's chimera. Now scram."
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After class, Dani caught Ben and Merula up on the spy mission as they went down the noisy hallways and up the stairs.

"It... doesn't suck, surprisingly," said Merula.

"I can pull my weight," said Dani.

"And I'll have to admit, students doing THAT to a dark wizard cabal sounds pretty damn sick," said Ben as they went up another flight of stairs. "Now we just need to make sure you don't turn into Bill Weasley in front of those guys or something."

"In fact, are you sure her hairs will still be in this classroom?" Merula asked Dani as she opened the DADA classroom door.

"Actually, you're right, we won't, so let's sneak into the staff room to search for her toenails. Snape WILL let us hear the end of that because we all brewed perfect-"

"Quit it, ladies. Merula, it's not like YOU'RE the one drinking the potion, and it'll taste like blood lust either way. Besides, vacuum cleaners do run on electricity, so Filch can't use those."

"Is it just me, or did that sound like a body part?" said Merula.

"It's a muggle machine. Pretty sure it sucks dust and hair and fluff off the floor. I'm sure my dad has one in the garage," said Dani as she began searching the stage.

"Does it have a p-pl-" Merula tried to ask as she checked behind the blackboard.

"Plug? You bet-and look what I've found." Dani waved a strand of red hair.

"Are you sure it isn't a Weasley hair?" asked Merula.

"I actually doubt it," said Ben from behind a desk. "Weasley hair is more orange-Dani and I would know with five Weasleys in our house-and they all happen to be boys, and this strand seems longer than the hot cursebreaker's-and that's not my opinion if you were wondering."

"What was that about Snape anyway, Jackson?" Merula asked as they headed for the door.

"I asked him about Rakepick as a student, and he asked me if I'd ever want to be a normal student. And honestly, I'm not sure."

"Pffft, 'normal' means I can't be the greatest witch at Hogwarts," said Merula as they went downstairs.

Ben laughed. "Yeah, right. But honestly, I think I would've wanted to be normal had you not gotten me into this, Dani. Anyway, let's just get downstairs, I'm starving."

"I sure hope we aren't having sandwiches again..."