Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Corvid Trials (The Bagsy Chronicles 2)

I Owe Yous

The girl's dormitory was as Bagsy had remembered it from when she'd spent one night there last year. There were six beds in total, each one a four-poster made from dark mahogany with a canopy and curtains in pale yellow that could be drawn around them for privacy. The circular room was big enough for each bed to have a night stand, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a trunk. She saw her things had been placed on the empty bed that had meant to be hers last year.

The girls were so busy unpacking that it took them a few seconds to notice her.

'Well, well, well,' Primrose said with barely concealed malice. 'Finally able to afford a bed instead of some dank corner in the castle?' she sneered, folding her arms.

'Oh, come off it, Primrose. You need to get over your obsession with money,' Teresa said with a roll of her eyes. 'Must you hear the sound of your own voice at all times?'

'Everyone cares about money, at least I'm honest about it,' said Primrose before going back to pulling fancy looking robes and clothes out of her trunk and hanging them in her wardrobe, thrusting the coat hangers with loud clangs onto the pole.

A girl who Bagsy hadn't met yet walked over to her and held out her hand. She had tan skin and auburn hair in a plait down to her waist, and an incredibly beautiful face, from her brown eyes to her hooked nose. Bagsy thought she looked like a model and shook her hand cautiously.

'I'm Paloma,' the girl said with a smile, flashing very white, straight teeth and cute dimples. Bagsy nodded, her mouth hanging open. 'And you..?

'I'm B-Bagsy,' Bagsy managed.

'I'm B-B-B-Bagsy!' Primrose mimicked, making a face at a tall girl with messy blonde hair in a bob that was unpacking on the bed next to her, who laughed deeply. Paloma looked at Primrose, her hands on her hips, clearly disapproving but saying nothing, before returning to her own bed to finish her unpacking.

Bagsy had now met four out of the five girls that shared this dormitory. The fifth, the girl who'd laughed at Primrose's impression, looked at Bagsy from behind her glasses. She was very tall, like Teresa and, like Teresa, had white skin. Bagsy didn't think they were related, though. This girl didn't have Teresa's fierce red hair, or lithe appearance, this girl was far stockier.

'That's Rebekah,' Teresa said suddenly, pointing her thumb at the girl, who had turned away from Bagsy and was ruffling her messy blonde hair in a mirror.

'Hi,' Rebekah said without turning to look at her.

Bagsy pursed her lips, not able to bring herself to respond, and decided to ignore them all while she faced her belongings. She didn't intend to unpack – she was just going to sleep here until she could put the image of that beast in her room out of her head – but she needed to clear a space on her bed. She shoved her trunk below the bed, pulling her toiletries and pyjamas out beforehand, then freed her rats and opened Eldritch's cage.

Eldritch hopped out of his cage and flew up to the windowsill that towered over Bagsy's head. The window looked out onto Hogwarts' ground, but from foot height – the Hufflepuff dormitories were in the basement, after all.

'Do you want to go to the owlery?' Bagsy asked. Eldritch looked at her and she got the sense that yes, he did. Standing on her bed and reaching up, Bagsy opened the window and let Eldritch fly out, closing it behind him.

Someone grabbed Bagsy's wrist and hauled her off her bed, nearly causing her to fall, her heart stammering in surprise.

'Come look at all my pets!' Teresa chimed happily, dragging Bagsy over to her portion of the room, which was next to Neve's.