Chapter 1

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"Clearwater, Penelope!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

As the table next to them exploded into cheers, Rowan said, "Looks like Dumbledore DID invite her in."

"Did he tell you why Rakepick's here?" asked Bill.

Dani shook her head as "Flint, Marcus!" was sorted into Slytherin.

Ben took a glance at the tall, red-haired woman at the other end of the staff table. "She looks... SCARY."

"It'll be alright, Ben, we'll all get used to her. Very soon."

Though, Dani, too, was doubtful about Rakepick. Something simply didn't feel right about her. And on top of that, her surname began with R...

Dani's train of thought was cut off by Bill punching her on the shoulder and pointing at McGonagall. "Weasley, Percival!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Bill patted his brother on the back as he joined the table. "Well done," he said encouragingly.

"Three down, four to go," said Rowan.

"Five down, more like, including my parents," said Bill as that last first-year ("Wood, Oliver!") was also sorted into Gryffindor.

Now that the sorting was over, it was Dumbledore's turn to speak. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Now, I'm sure you're all well aware about the situation of the cursed vaults, and that some of our students are in an attempt to find them.

"In the past several years, students have got hurt in their quest for the vaults. As it is the responsibility of us professors to ensure the safety of all of you, we are honoured to have Patricia Rakepick with us for the year.

"As most of you already know, Madam Rakepick is head cursebreaker at Gringotts, and will be assisting us in breaking any curses." He stopped and looked at Rakepick. "Do you have any words for the students?"

"Of course I do," she replied, standing up. "It feels amazing to be back in my alma mater. I look forward to an exciting year with all of you. And as for the so-called 'vault squad'... Expect an owl soon."

Just then, Dani felt a large hand on her shoulder. It was Hagrid. "Dani, yeh wouldn' mind teh drop by the courtyard after the feast, wouldn' yeh?"
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"Let me get this straight... You saw her SLEEPWALKING in the FORBIDDEN FOREST?!"

"I did," replied Hagrid, glancing at a probably half-concious Tulip lying on the side of the fountain. "Yeh weren' on the train with her?"

"I was with Barnaby, Penny, Rowan, and Charlie and Percy Weasley."

"She said tha' she fell asleep on the train an' woke up in the forbidden forest."

"Strange," agreed Dani. "Let's take her to the hospital wing, see what Madam Pomfrey has for us."
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Halfway through the first week...

"PROTEGO!"

Rakepick smiled as Dani successfully deflected her charm. "I'm impressed, young lady. For a normal person, even simple charms aren't learned so quickly."

"You can thank Angelica and Bill for the extra training." 'So far, so good,' Dani thought about her first 'meeting' with Rakepick.

"Ah, little miss troublemaker," sang Snape as he crossed the training grounds. "Don't you have someone better to train, Patricia, like... Merula Snyde? Ismelda Murk? Barnaby Lee?"

"Yes, I'll be contacting them, Severus, no need to jump to conclusions. I simply wanted to see Miss Jackson FIRST-as you know, I've previously made aquintance with her brother. We need students trained and ready, especially now that yet another vault has been tampered with."

Dani's eyes lit. "The third vault?"

"Yes, and I have reason to believe that it's connected to the numerous sleepwalking incidents we've been having recently."

Dani remembered seeing more students in the hospital wing than the norm when she visited Tulip the day before-and most of them were covered in weird bite marks.

"Now, Miss Jackson, run along back into the castle for dinner before I take away house points." Snape growled.

"Yes, professor." Dani returned to the castle just to bump into Professor Kettleburn.

"Ah, Miss Jackson!" he exclaimed happily. "One of my best students. Do you happen to see a chimaera anywhere? One of mine has broken out of it's pen and run loose."

"I'm sure it just ran into the forest or-"

"DANI!"

Ben was poking his head out of the artefact room, a horrified look on his face.

"You need to see this!"

"What?"

"I found another black quill!"

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Year 4Where stories live. Discover now