Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Thorned Gauntlet (The Bagsy Chronicles 1)

The End-of-Term Feast

The rest of the school year sped by. Bagsy spent all her time catching up on the lessons she'd missed, doing homework, reading all the books she could and trying not to think about what had happened.

A day before her first exam was due to begin, Bagsy and Mezrielda were studying in the library nook. Bagsy had brought her matured stampelia to the spot and the young Librarian had agreed that they could leave it in the nook permanently. The old Librarian, who she was beginning to realise was a recluse, staying away from the students and keeping her head low, didn't seem to care. Bagsy had thought the matured stampelia made the space feel even cosier when she'd put the plant on the window sill overlooking the Hogwarts lake.

Bagsy was nervously going over her Charms work. She knew she'd fail the practical, but at least she could head into the theoretical paper with some idea about what to write. Meanwhile, Mezrielda was doing her own revision for Transfiguration which Bagsy was slowly realising was the only subject she put any real effort into. She was good at all her subjects, she was Mezrielda, after all, but revision for other subjects consisted of briefly looking at textbooks before groaning that it was boring and giving up. When it came to Transfiguration, she seemed to actually care, and hold at least an ounce of patience for studying it.

Bagsy looked abruptly at Mezrielda, something occurring to her. 'You lied to Tod,' she said simply. The draught of silver cleanse didn't make you immune to memory loss, as Mezrielda had claimed.

'Very perceptive, Bagsy,' Mezrielda mumbled sarcastically, focussing on the scroll she was writing on, hovering the quill above the words as she checked them over.

'He could have made us forget he was a silver tongue, but he didn't.'

'Nothing gets past you,' Mezrielda continued.

'Why?'

Mezrielda sighed, putting her scroll to the side. 'You saw him use his power on that beast, didn't you?' she asked. 'It took him all the strength he had. I don't think he could have made us forget. I lied to him so that once his energy returned, he wouldn't change his mind and make us forget.' Mezrielda shrugged. 'I doubt it will work forever, and he may make us forget he's a silver tongue once he realises I lied, but he seemed grateful to you, so I don't think he has anything nefarious in store for us anymore.' Mezrielda went back to her work at that.

Despite Fitzsimmons' promise that Bagsy's exams wouldn't stop her proceeding to the following year, she was still a mess of nerves when it came time to sit them. She nearly cried in Transfiguration, was sniffing in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and her tears smudged the ink of her Charms paper. Even Potions, Herbology, History of Magic and Astronomy had her wringing her hands in stress. The practical parts of the exams were even worse. Bagsy's nerves meant her Potions, Herbology and Astronomy practical examinations were mediocre, at best and she was a state in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts, where she failed every demonstration of a spell she was asked to perform.

Charms was even worse. Starrett seemed indescribably furious she couldn't get Bagsy expelled that year and breathed down her neck the whole time, calling her useless and pitiful and wretched, demanding she stop pretending and start casting spells already. At one point, when Bagsy couldn't make a grain of sand levitate, she thought Starrett was about to snap her hornbeam wand in half. When the exams were finally over Bagsy felt almost as relieved as she had when she'd escaped the blood eyed beast even if she knew that was silly.

The rest of the year she spent working on her own projects. She was determined to make the Hufflepuff brooms even better, and she was even looking into possible potions that could make herself and Mezrielda permanently immune to the powers of a silver tongue, though, in her honest opinion, it didn't seem possible.

Bagsy struggled to sleep and the bags below her eyes were growing larger by the day. She refused to tell Mezrielda or Greenda why she looked tired all the time. She suspected Mezrielda knew – Mezrielda had bags under her eyes, as well.

At the end-of-term feast Bagsy was disappointed she couldn't sit next to Mezrielda, but when Slytherin won the house cup and their table erupted with loud cheers she was very grateful she was on the other side of the hall from them.

Eventually, it was time to board the Hogwarts express back home and Bagsy was a mixture of relief and sadness. The train journey was quiet. Mezrielda and Bagsy had found themselves an empty compartment once again, mainly because Mezrielda's glare was so fearsome the other first years didn't want to mess with her, and they sat in companionable silence as the train moved along. Earlier that day, Greenda had given Bagsy her address, so that they could write to each other.

Thinking on this, Bagsy turned to Mezrielda. 'What's your address?' she asked as they approached London Kings Cross. Mezrielda made the closest thing to a smile she had, which still looked rather sour all things considered, and handed Bagsy a piece of paper with an address already written on it, as if she'd been waiting for the question.

'What about you?' Mezrielda asked. Bagsy quickly scribbled out her own address and handed it to Mezrielda, who took the paper and put it in her bag, pausing, looking at what was within it before giving her head a small shake and returning her attention to her. She said, 'At least this time you didn't drop all your potions equipment on the floor.'

Bagsy winced. 'I'm a little clumsy, aren't I?'

Mezrielda raised her eyebrows. 'A little?'

'Alright, alright. A lot. And I'm a cry-baby too. I'm not unaware.'

'Own it.' Mezrielda shrugged. 'Never be ashamed of your tears. Some people cry more than others. Some people don't cry at all. That's...' Something seemed stuck at the back of Mezrielda's throat. She paused, swallowing as her shoulders tensed, and Bagsy thought she might cough up another feather, were it not for the grimace hidden below the forced nonchalance of her expression. She looked upset. 'That's how the world works.'

'Thanks,' Bagsy decided to say. Mezrielda looked at her quizzically, the tension in her frame loosening. 'I don't like how much I cry, and I bet lots of other people don't either so it's nice... it's nice to hear that it isn't the end of the world.'

Mezrielda scoffed, folding her arms and looking out the window. 'Far from it.' She paused, her eyes slowly sliding back to her bag as her jaw clenched. She huffed, as if she were being pestered by a toddler to give them some food. 'Pay attention,' Mezrielda said, opening her bag so Bagsy could take a look. She did so, and saw an assortment of different shiny, small objects. 'Listen closely, I won't say this again. I like collecting little things I find. It's fun to transfigure them or make them change colour or meld them together...' Mezrielda trailed off, flushing and Bagsy realised that, for her, this was being vulnerable.

Bagsy would have laughed but she knew this was a big deal to Mezrielda, so she didn't. 'That's really cool,' she said encouragingly instead. 'I'll keep my eye open for stuff like that to give to you.'

Mezrielda looked pleased, even if she wasn't smiling, and closed her bag. 'You can stop being nosey about it, now,' she chided.

Bagsy snorted. 'You wish.' She watched Mezrielda for a few moments as her friend looked out the window, her eyes tracking the passing countryside, and happily settled into her seat. 'I'm glad I met you,' she said, so quietly she half-hoped Mezrielda hadn't heard. There was a stretched silence.

'Me too,' Mezrielda muttered at last, eyes flicking from right to left as she watched trees and hills rush past. 'I'm such a fascinating person to meet. It would have been a travesty if you'd never encountered my genius.'

Bagsy laughed again. Returning home didn't feel as empty as it had last time. This time, if Bontie teased her about not having any friends, Bagsy could respond that actually, she had some pretty good ones.