Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Inferno Conscription (The Bagsy Chronicles 3)

Tod's Favour

Itsuki and Jon were excited to hear Bagsy would join them for Thaumathletics. They had been playing wizard's chess in the common room when Bagsy had walked over and timidly told them the news.

'We never got to hang out with you, but now?' Itsuki said happily.

'Missing Hufflepuff is too right,' Jon added. 'Slippery like a fish, you are.'

Bagsy wasn't sure if she was being complimented. She was also greatly confused why anyone would be eager to hang out with her.

'Maybe we'll get into cool adventures this year,' Jon sighed wistfully, and Bagsy realised why.

'W-what adventures?' she spluttered.

'Oh, please.' Itsuki waved his hand dismissively. 'Everyone spouts different stories but it's clear exciting stuff happens around you, Bagsy.'

'I wouldn't call it exciting...' Bagsy muttered, sitting down next to them.

'What other electives did you take?' Jon asked, one of his knights careening into Itsuki's pawn.

'Muggle studies and Care of Magical Creatures,' Bagsy answered.

'Three!' Itsuki exclaimed. Bagsy nodded shyly. Mezrielda had chosen three also; Arithmancy, Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. She'd said the third was only because most people took Care of Magical Creatures and so it was her best opportunity to look impressive in front of her cohorts and gain the social respect she was seeking.

Bagsy had chosen three because she couldn't decide between Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. She figured she could drop one once she'd decided which she preferred. Thaumathletics she felt obligated to take – she wanted to become as good at Quidditch as she could be and what better way to do that than by taking a subject all about physical exercise? Even if Bagsy currently hated running, she was determined to train herself to be faster, stronger, and better at sport. If she could do it on a broom she could do it on the ground, and if she could get better on the ground, she could get better on a broom. Or so she hoped.

'Well, I'll look forward to taking Thaumathletics with you two,' Bagsy said awkwardly, standing up and walking to her private room.

'Where'd she go? How does she do that?' she heard Jon ask as she entered her private room, the door hidden behind an armchair and some ferns.

'No one knows,' Itsuki pointed out.

Then, the two speaking in unison; 'Missing Hufflepuff.'

Bagsy swiftly unpacked her things. Last year, the boggart in her room had kept her too scared to sleep in there. Sure, the boggart had been banished by Cora on the first night, but the thought of it had put Bagsy off. Now, though, Bagsy found her fear was gone. Or at least, her fear of the boggart was gone. Bagsy knew all too well it had been replaced by a worse fear. The feeling of a small, enclosed space of red and fire flashed in her mind. Pushing the thought aside, Bagsy set to work on her new invention.

She wanted to be able to move about Hogwarts without being seen, and what place was the least seen of all of Hogwarts? The ceilings, of course, Bagsy thought as she looked up at the ceiling of her private room – a ceiling she only looked at when lying in bed.

Her invention took all Saturday, all Sunday and early Monday morning to get right. She based them on the concept of the mag-net bat and ball. All she had to do was make the shoes she had designed magnetically connect with the ceiling, like the ball did to the bat, and create a material to silence the noise they made. Bagsy worried the other Hufflepuffs would think there was a spectre somewhere in their common room as she kept making loud thuds with her falling followed by low, frustrated groans of pain as she tried to walk up the wall.