Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Vampire Affairs (The Bagsy Chronicles 4)

Option Two

Just like that, Mezrielda was standing up as well, clasping her hands tightly together. 'Exactly my sentiments!' she breathed then, glancing around herself and putting her arms maturely at her sides, schooled her anticipation away. 'It will be interesting, to be sure.' Bagsy smirked at her friend, her worry about Fitzsimmons fading.

However, by the time lunch was over and they were walking to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the nerves had returned in full force. Focus was something Bagsy struggled to keep during the lesson. Fitzsimmons was talking about brick-ticks whose bodies were bulbous and square, and combined could make entire structures. Bagsy only paid attention when someone dropped heavily into the seat on her left, Mezrielda occupying the one on her right.

Tod Alden unpacked his things, keeping his dark eyes on the floor or his desk, and looking very small for such a tall boy.

'Tod?' Bagsy said. Anger flared in her at the memory of the conversation he'd had with his brother on the train, but it was tempered by how sad he'd looked when he'd been in St Mungo's, having lost his tongue.

'I'm fine,' he said tensely, turning his head away from her. His voice sounded back to normal in terms of using his tongue, but it lacked his usual confidence. There was a pause and when he looked back his cocky smile had returned. 'Can't believe I got away with being late to Fitzsimmons' lesson – the professor must have faulty glasses or...' Tod trailed off as Fitzsimmons' neck extended with speed to cover the length of the room.

The bug eyes of Fitzsimmons' stared unblinkingly at Tod. 'What was that?'

Tod gulped. 'Nothing.'

'No talking while I'm talking,' Fitzsimmons said as their neck retracted to its normal size. With a tap from their wand against the nape of their neck it solidified back into usual looking anatomy. 'As I was saying... cater-pillars...'

Bagsy tuned back out until Fitzsimmons asked them to copy some passages from their textbook onto a fill-in-the-blanks work sheet on the weak points of cater-pillars.

Tod frowned in confusion at the text book and turned a few pages back. 'That's odd.'

Mezrielda, who'd been casting glares in Tod's direction since he'd arrived, prickled abnormally at his innocuous comment. 'Who cares? Focus on the task at hand.'

'Take a look,' Tod insisted. 'We've skipped an entire chapter of content. This could be in our exams!' He went to put his hand up but Mezrielda forced it down.

'Don't cause a fuss!' she hissed. 'It doesn't matter. It won't come up in the exam this year. Fitzsimmons said so at the start.'

Tod looked dubiously as Mezrielda. 'Release my arm.'

With an angry jerk, Mezrielda let go and sat back down. Curiously, Bagsy browsed the content they'd missed.

'We're not learning that,' Mezrielda reminded her.

'I know,' said Bagsy. 'I'm just curious.'

That seemed to aggravate Mezrielda, but she didn't seem to know how to say what she wanted.

Bagsy glanced at the book. She saw a few different titles; Bog Dogs, Mimics, Yew Stranglers, Shapeshifters, Changelings and Doppelgangers stared back up at her. There was information about the freakish powers the creatures had; changing their appearance at will, peering into the minds of their victims, or even eyes that could predict the future and see through walls.

In big warning letters at the top and bottom of each page, flashing a bright red, were the words: 'INFORMATION OUTDATED: CAPABILITIES UNKNOWN AND UNSURE. PROCEED WITH CAUTION AND ASSUME CLASS S DANGER IN ALL CASES.'