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

The Equalizer

The spring sun was shining pleasantly down on the Quidditch pitch as the Hufflepuff team trained that Monday evening. Bagsy had asked Ford if she could do her own practise that session – she didn't feel like interacting with anyone at the moment. Kindly, Ford agreed. Perhaps Greenda had informed him of what had happened with Bill. Even Teresa was more sympathetic than usual. She'd been about to tell Bagsy to hurry up with tying her shoes in the changing room, but one look from Greenda and she'd held her tongue. Bagsy got the sense Greenda was taking a lot of extra steps to make sure everything went smoothly for her.

Greenda, ensuring that everyone gave her space and understanding, was how Bagsy found herself at the edge of the Quidditch pitch, a tall stake of wood driven into the ground, and another one a dozen feet away from it also standing ready. She was trying to hit a bludger at the first stake and have it bounce off and hit the second one and was enjoying the respectful solitude she had to practice. When she'd explained her drill to Ford, a drill she'd been practising all through the Christmas holidays, he'd thought she'd been joking. But as the session went on, it became clear that Bagsy had a knack for it. She had yet to consistently hit the second stake, but her aim was getting freakishly close. Bagsy's eyes seemed to take well to calculating just how the bludger could bounce off the stake, and with each hit she found the bludger within a few centimetres or so of its secondary target – something that couldn't be explained merely by luck.

'I have no idea how you do that,' Ford breathed, having walked over. 'I've never seen anyone even attempt this.'

Bagsy shrugged. 'It's just practice,' she said. She had spent a lot of time working on this rebound move.

Ford looked unconvinced. 'I don't know... you must have some hidden talent for these things. Not everyone can visualise where the ball will bounce to.'

Bagsy just shrugged again, looking away from Ford and out over Hogwarts grounds. She could see, just at the edge of the Forbidden forest, the clostra boabs growing bulbus and tall. They were nearly as high as Bagsy and Arice now. It made it easier to avoid talking with him – Bagsy could simply skirt around the tree until she was working on the other side. They also looked a bit like rats curled up to sleep, so Bagsy looked away from them.

'Anyway, I'll leave you to it,' Ford said, turning his broom to fly back towards Kat and Jon, who were practising fake-out passes before goal shots at difficult angles. In one version of the move, Kat spun around on her broom, moving her arm in a big arc to sign-post an obvious pass to Jon. Only, she would hold onto the ball, keep spinning, and with the momentum and surprise shoot a sneaky goal through one of the hoops where, hopefully, the enemy keeper hadn't been expecting it. The only downside was it did require Kat to fly backwards which was both difficult and dangerous, and Kat had fallen off her broom twice already.

Emmeline was waiting by the posts. She wasn't quick enough or co-ordinated enough to stop Kat's goals, and Bagsy could see frustration knotting in her shoulders. Meanwhile, Greenda was flying laps of the pitch as fast as she could, but not chasing anything in particular.

'Actually,' Bagsy said, to the retreating Ford. He stopped and looked back at her. 'Could I practise something with Greenda and Emmeline? I think I have an idea.'

Ford arched an eyebrow in interest, then smiled. 'Amazing. Your ideas have never been bad so far.' Bagsy cringed inwardly, seeing a half-scaled face in her mind and internally disagreeing. 'Greenda! Emmeline! Get over here,' Ford ordered. With disdainful looks at each other, the two flew over. 'Bagsy's going to run some training for you two. Listen closely and do as she says. And no fighting,' Ford emphasised the last part, before re-joining Kat and Jon. Teresa, who'd been acting as a defender, took Emmeline's role as the keeper.