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

I Owe Yous

Teresa had, somehow, already finished unpacking, her area filled with cages and tanks. A hook hung from the top of Teresa's bed, hanging from which was a sleeping bat. Slippy, Teresa's toad, was happily croaking in his tank which was on Teresa's bed side table. Another habitat poked out from underneath Teresa's bed and Bagsy thought she saw hairy legs and scaled bodies.

'I have one bat, two toads, three spiders, two snakes and an ant farm!' Teresa counted off from her fingers happily, then pointed at a mass of what Bagsy had thought were large picture frames standing on and around the trunk at the end of her bed. Bagsy realised that the pictures where actually thin sand containers, in which thousands of ants had built a vast network of tunnels. Small, plastic tubes connected each frame to the next so that it was an ant metropolis.

'I'm sure Bagsy doesn't want to hear about your ant farm, Teresa,' Paloma said, crinkling her nose in distaste and eyeing the ant farm with concern. 'I can't believe you haven't been caught yet. You really shouldn't have all these creatures-' Teresa flung a hand over Paloma's mouth, cutting her off. She shook her head in warning and pointed meaningfully at Primrose, who was busy deciding where to keep her jewellery box and hadn't paid attention to what Paloma had said. Paloma nodded, and Teresa removed her hand. 'Right,' Paloma winced in understanding. 'Can't let her know.'

'I'm guessing you're not allowed these things,' Bagsy said in a low voice. Teresa must be scared that, if Primrose realised, she'd tell on her and get her in trouble.

Teresa looked away guiltily. 'Zotova really likes animals. She said she could sneak 'em in for me,' she explained. 'I'm not sure the other staff would approve.'

'The groundskeeper?' Bagsy asked.

Teresa nodded. 'Yeah. She's really cool – knows almost as much about animals as I do.' She puffed out her chest. 'Of course, she knows more about magical creatures, but it can't be helped. I didn't know I was a witch until a year ago.'

'How didn't you know you were a witch?' Bagsy asked in confusion.

'I'm muggle-born,' Teresa answered simply, to which a furious itch to ask her about muggle life formed in Bagsy's brain. She held her tongue, not sure if that would be rude or not, and instead smiled pleasantly before returning to her own corner of the room, unsure what to do.

'I'm going for a walk,' Bagsy said, moving to leave, glancing at her rats as she went. Bill had curled up asleep on Bagsy's pillow whilst Jill was exploring all the different drawers next to Bagsy's bed.

'Missing Hufflepuff,' Bagsy heard Teresa mutter under her breath to Neve, who nodded in agreement.

'Bagsy?' Paloma said as Bagsy was leaving. 'You may want to watch your rats if you're going to leave them alone in here.' She indicated Primrose's bed where a small, hairless cat with ears and eyes that seemed bigger than its face was yawning lazily, stretching its claws. Paloma then nodded at her own bed, where a tabby cat was eyeing Bill hungrily.

Gathering Bill and Jill protectively in her arms and letting them sit on her shoulder, Bagsy nodded gratefully at her. 'Good point,' she said, before ducking out of the common room.

She set off straight for the Slytherin common room. Bill climbed into one of the pockets in her robe with a happy chirp as she fell back asleep, while Jill sat on Bagsy's shoulder, tail raised and head twitching from side to side, like a gargoyle keeping guard. It took Bagsy a minute to get used to navigating Hogwarts again, with its doors that required polite introductions, paintings that murmured distractingly as you walked past, and rugs that aimed to wrap around your feet and trip you over. There was also the matter of the ghosts who would pop out of nowhere, giving Bagsy heart attacks.