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

A New Term

'What did you name them?' Bagsy pressed, unperturbed.

'And,' Mezrielda continued, neatly dotting her Is and crossing her Ts. 'They are known to bond and form alliances with the residents of the building to which they camouflage themselves, creating a...' Mezrielda scanned the words they had to choose from the fill-in-the-blanks, 'mutually beneficial relationship. The term for this is...' she scanned the words again, 'mutualism.'

'Did you name them Rouge?' Bagsy guessed. 'Or Skull, maybe?'

Mezrielda growled, giving up on filling in the blanks in favour of glaring at her. 'If you must know I named him Ivory.'

'Ooooh, good one.'

'You named one of them Squishy McSquish Face. You are in no place to mock.'

Bagsy fell about in giggles. 'But he is squishy!'

A voice abruptly pulled them from their games. 'I assume you've finished the work sheet?' Fitzsimmons asked from behind. How they'd got there so quietly, Bagsy didn't know.

'Uh, just getting onto it now, professor,' Bagsy stammered as Mezrielda tutted, returning to her work.

'Less talk and more focus,' Fitzsimmons reminded them neutrally before moving onto the next set of desks. At least they weren't reprimanding them for failing to cast spells, Bagsy consoled herself, casting a mistrustful look after Fitzsimmons. It was strange being taught lessons by someone who was so evidently involved with the creature who'd tried to murder her twice, and yet would say not a word on it and instead feign ignorance.

Bagsy felt someone tap her on the shoulder from behind. She turned to see Paloma blinked innocently at her.

'Hey, Bagsy, can you look into the future and see if Maisy would like this as a birthday gift?' She flashed a pretty pink and gold quill while Maisy was distracted with her catercolumn miniatures.

'Uh, sure,' Bagsy murmured, frowning and trying to sense what the answer was, ignoring Mezrielda's dismissive scoff. 'She'll love it,' she decided, to a happy smile from Paloma.

'Brilliant! And, one more thing... what does Neve think of me?'

Bagsy hesitated at that question, deeply surprised by it. 'I'm sure she thinks you're a very nice person,' she said, hoping her power of sight was serving her answers well.

'Thanks!' Paloma's smile grew as she turned and left her alone.

At quidditch practise Primrose was bursting every quaffle they had to train with, her sharp claws poking deep holes into them. Thoughts of Paloma's questions and Professor Fitzsimmons were far from Bagsy's mind as, in the pattering rain, the scene played out in front of her.

Kat was fuming. 'That's the fifth one!' she raged, holding a deflated quaffle up to Primrose. The ball was letting out cries of pain as the air drained from it. The bludgers hovered nearby, seeming to vibrate in rage at Primrose's needless harm.

Primrose shrugged. 'Get another one,' she said, inspecting her dagger-like claws. 'It's not my problem.'

Kat's nostrils flared and she turned her broom, flying over to Bagsy, who looked at her in surprise.

'Sorry!' Bagsy said instinctively, even though she'd done nothing but help pass out balls and fix broom calibration all session. Given she'd missed almost all of quidditch training last term due there were a lot of tweaks to be made.

'Don't be sorry, you're fine,' Kat assured her, holding the quaffle out to her. 'If you have time, and only if you have time, do you think you could make a ball that won't break when Primrose so much as sneezes in its direction?'