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

A Scuffle in the Trees

Bagsy stopped scrambling, her heart suddenly a slow drum thudding in her ears, making the world tremble with its sound. Her fingers curled into the ground. Her nails filled with dirt.

She stood up and placed her feet, then drew her bat. 'Alright...' She let the ball hover in the air as she drew the bat back. 'I've had enough of this.'

Bagsy hit the ball, rocketing it forward. Primrose lunged to the side, the metal ball ruffling her curls as it raced past.

She grinned at Bagsy. 'You missed.'

Bagsy held the bat towards Primrose's face and levelled a dark look at her.

'Primrose!' Rebekah called in warning.

Primrose heard the whoosh of the ball returning to the bat and spun around, but she was too slow. The ball thunked into her head, rebounding off her scales. Primrose fell against a tree, clutching her skull, and Bagsy caught the ball on her bat with a metallic clink.

More spells shot her way as Rebekah and Logan panicked. Eyes trying to keep track of all the hexes, Bagsy darted forwards, leaning this way and that to avoid the spells and catching others with her gloves.

She pushed thaumaturgy into her legs, reaching Logan in a second.

He let out a cry as Bagsy punched him, knocking him to the ground. She snatched his wand from his hand, while tossing her bat into the air to free her other to catch a leg-locking jinx Rebekah had flung at her.

Bagsy threw Logan's wand away and, fierce eyes fixed Rebekah, caught the bat. She stepped off Logan and walked towards her like a panther through the shadows of the jungle.

'Alright,' Primrose's shaky voice called. 'You've won. Leave them be.'

Taking a second to look at Primrose, and then at the terrified Logan lying on the floor, Bagsy felt her mouth go dry.

Had she really just done that?

Mezrielda awkwardly walked past Logan to stand at Bagsy's side.

Hoping that was that, they hurried back to Hogsmeade.

'You... did well,' Mezrielda said quietly as they rushed out of the trees and onto cobbled pavements.

Bagsy didn't respond. She didn't know how to feel. She was about to say something jokey, to lighten the mood, when there was a pain on the back of her head, a jolt, and a turning of the world around her.

Bagsy found herself lying on the floor, groaning, noticing a rock lying next to her head. Placing a hand to the back of her skull she winced at the soreness there.

She heard Mezrielda cry out in furious protest as there was a flash of light and she, too, toppled over, her legs locked together.

Bagsy could hear Primrose laughing, saying something to Rebekah and Logan, but her mind was fuzzy and she couldn't process the words. She was trying to push herself up onto her hands, but her dizziness was making it difficult. Then, her eyes landed on something on the ground. It was an old poster, covered in dirt and snow, but Bagsy could read the moving letters all the same and her heart stopped.

When her head finished buzzing and she finally turned to see what on earth was going on, she saw Primrose, Rebekah and Logan were walking away, looking back at them with barely concealed anger. Bagsy frowned in confusion – had they decided to give up?

'Jolly good thing I was here,' a posh voice said before arms pulled Bagsy to her feet.

Still feeling fragile, she slowly turned to see the tall figure of Opius Pepsini. His black, curly moustache was dusted with snow, and his two-pronged cloak was thick for the cold temperature of Hogsmeade.