Term was over, and it was time to head back to London Kings Cross, before Bagsy knew it. Mezrielda Glint was halted as she went to step onto the carriage that would take her to the Hogwarts express.
Bagsy, who'd already clambered onto the carriage, looked back in confusion. Mezrielda had been mid conversation with her – telling her how much she was looking forward to not having to serve detention anymore next term – when Belta Zotova, the grounds keeper, had appeared.
Fitzsimmons was standing at Zotova's side, their face severe, their large eyes fixed on Mezrielda. Bagsy's heart leapt into her throat, wondering what it was all about.
'Miss Glint,' Fitzsimmons said politely, holding out their hand in a gesture at Zotova. 'I'd like you to hand over your trunk.'
Mezrielda, with a confused look at Zotova, who was towering like a mountain of muscle over the scene, handed her trunk to the groundskeeper.
Zotova placed the trunk roughly on the floor and threw it open. Bagsy gaped at a mammoth pile of cutlery stacked within, clinking against each other incriminatingly. Looking at Mezrielda, she saw she looked equally shocked.
'The elves came up short during their end of year inventory count,' Fitzsimmons explained sadly. 'I didn't want to believe it, but you're the only student who currently has regular access to the kitchens due to the detentions you've been serving.'
'Professor Fitzsimmons,' Mezrielda said very slowly and very carefully. 'I didn't take these. I don't know how they came to be in my luggage. I'm being framed.'
Fitzsimmons blinked their large, brown eyes and pursed their lips. 'I trust that however these items may have ended up in your possession your intentions were good. But even so, clearly there is something untoward afoot and it would be remiss for me not to enact fair consequences.' Bagsy held her breath, wondering if Fitzsimmons was about to expel Mezrielda.
Zotova spoke up. 'Expulsion is the usual procedure for repeat offences like zis.'
Mezrielda and Bagsy both glared at Zotova.
Fitzsimmons cast Zotova a quick, silencing look, before turning back to Mezrielda. 'I won't be expelling you.' Bagsy let out a breath. 'Instead, starting next term, you shall continue your detentions. I shall think of a way for you to serve them that doesn't give the opportunity for more Hogwarts property to end up in your luggage, and I hope it will help you rethink the way you've been behaving this term. We both know what is on the line, Miss Glint. Do not force my hand in this matter with worse transgressions. I will keep you at Hogwarts as long as I am able but we both know there are those with more power than I in play.'
Mezrielda, shoulders sagging, gave a glum nod before climbing onto the carriage.
As Fitzsimmons was walking away they paused and turned back. 'The elves were very disappointed in you, Mezrielda. They said they had thought you were a nice girl and felt deeply betrayed.'
Mezrielda looked more upset than Bagsy had ever seen her, her nostrils flaring, lips pursed, and eyes staring holes into the seat opposite her, darting back and forth in rapid thought.
Once they stepped onto the Hogwarts express, Mezrielda barged into the nearest compartment and yelled the current inhabitants, a group of terrified first years, out. She levitated their things inside before thudding angrily down on a seat.
'I don't believe this!' she roared, kicking the side of the compartment. Bagsy sat down opposite.
'Why would someone frame you?'
'So, you don't believe me?' Mezrielda hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
Bagsy looked at Mezrielda firmly. 'Did you steal them?'
'No!'
'Then I believe you,' she declared, folding her arms. 'You wouldn't lie to me.' Mezrielda blinked, her anger dissipating. 'I know you didn't make those flight modulators vanish, I know you didn't destroy Teresa's worm farm and now I know you didn't steal the cutlery, either.'
'Thank you for trusting me,' Mezrielda said in a small voice, looking out the window. 'It's a weird feeling. Being trusted.'
'You've never lied to me,' Bagsy explained, 'so I trust you.'
'How do you know I haven't lied to you?' she snapped.
Bagsy shrugged. 'I guess I don't. I guess maybe I do just blindly trust you. But, even if you had lied to me, I trust you enough to know you'd have your reasons.'
Mezrielda was suddenly very interested in the world beyond the window, her face flushed.
'Speaking of things I might not know – what was that Fitzsimmons was talking about? What did they mean when they said something was on the line, and other people have more power than them?'
'It's none of your concern,' Mezrielda responded sourly. Bagsy wilted a little, and Mezrielda cast her a softened look which, for Mezrielda, was still sharp enough to cut metal. 'Let's just say my record at school is closely monitored.'
'Why?'
Mezrielda looked back out the window, not responding, and Bagsy accepted that was all she was getting for now. Though the itch to know the full truth was killing her, she left it there.
When they reached Kings Cross, and it was time to go their separate ways, Mezrielda promised she'd be able to write this holiday now that her parents had forgotten the incident with the beast and wouldn't be altering her mail, and Bagsy felt exhilarated at the idea, especially given she couldn't rely on Greenda's correspondence anymore.
She had to force herself to hug Mezrielda goodbye. Hugs were still a difficult thing but she knew she'd regret it if she didn't. Mezrielda was as stiff and awkward about it as usual but with a wave and a smile Bagsy felt a little better about not seeing her friend for a few weeks.
Christmas at home was the same as it had been last year. Bagsy's parents were not around. Either they were in their rooms, working, or, a fun addition to their 'why I'm not here' excuses, away on business trips to America. They were trying to expand their businesses in the USA more than they had already, by the sounds of it.
Bagsy overheard Florentchia saying, 'We've only got one functioning warehouse right now. Why not expand? Two, three, even four? What's stopping us?'
'A good point,' Himble grumbled in response, before the two of them parted ways to lock themselves in their rooms.
Bontie had a week off from the Ministry at least, and so for the days surrounding Christmas and Christmas itself Bagsy felt a little less lonely. Bontie, never tiring of shooting insults and jibes Bagsy's way now that she wasn't so exhausted by Ministry work, was just the company she needed.
Bagsy showed Bontie the mag-net bat and ball she'd invented and Bontie, looking impressed, said, 'Wow. You made a yoyo.'
'It's nothing like a yoyo!' Bagsy defended her invention, placing her hands over the broom as if it had ears and could hear. 'What are yoyos?'
'Muggle toys.'
Bagsy's heart quickened. 'What other things do muggles have?'
'Stuff.' Bontie shrugged. 'It's not really my department.'
The day before Christmas, Florentchia and Himble had announced they'd be traveling to America and couldn't be around for Christmas and would leave the festivities in the capable hands of Rebontil, who had seethed.
'For the last time, call me Bontie,' she'd hissed, not at all upset or surprised that her parents were abandoning them for the holiday. 'If I ask you to do something, do it!' She'd muttered to herself, under her breath and just loud enough that Bagsy had managed to hear, 'Honestly, if everyone just listened to me, did as they were asked and didn't need to be led to the right decisions everything would be so much easier.' Bagsy had puzzled at her sister's words, but not thought too much on them.
Once their parents had left, Bontie had cooled down, and consoled a rather glum Bagsy with the promise of a surprise on Christmas.
Bontie's surprise was the best one Bagsy had ever had. She rushed down the stairs as soon as she'd awoken to a fully decorated living room – filled with tinsel and floating candles and a Christmas tree as high as the roof. Baubles glided through the air with warm, orange lights flickering inside, animated sugar plum fairy ornaments danced from one surface to another and illusory snowflakes fluttered over their heads like icing sugar being sieved over a cake.
Bagsy's mouth gaped and her eyes widened as she spun around in her pyjamas, taking it all in.
'That's not all, squirrel-girl,' Bontie teased, fluffing up Bagsy's bushy hair that, according to Bontie, looked like a squirrel's tail. Bontie pointed at the giant tree – below white, red, green and gold packages sat. 'Proper presents, Bagsy. Ones made specifically for you.' Bontie's eyes sparkled. With a small cry to 'wait one second!', she rushed upstairs, remembering the present she'd made for Bontie, before hurrying back down with it. But when Bagsy returned, it wasn't just Bontie standing amongst the Christmas decorations.
A man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, smiled warmly at her. He was as tall as Bontie, had dark skin, and darker hair so short it was hard to notice. He was well built and Bagsy wondered if he was a professional Quidditch player.
'Bagsy, this is Griffin Southgate,' Bontie introduced the man. Bagsy, the small package for her sister clutched in her hands, looked up at him silently, her voice catching in her throat.
Griffin waved at her. 'Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.'
'Y-you have?' Bagsy squeaked.
Griffin laughed. 'All good things.'
'Griffin is my boyfriend,' Bontie explained.
'I am? I thought we were just friends?' Griffin faked surprise and it took Bagsy a confused second to realise he was joking.
Bontie gave Griffin a light slap on the arm. 'Ha, ha. Go on, show Bagsy what you brought.'
Griffin pulled a broom from behind his back and Bagsy held back a gasp.
'My broom!' Bagsy squealed, rushing forward to look at it. Last year, before Bagsy had started her first year at Hogwarts, her mum and dad had bought her a broom. It was a pretty good broom, too, much better than Bagsy's current Fleet Footed Fox, even with its modifications. Bagsy paused, her hands inches from the broom. 'I gave this to Bontie,' Bagsy said, 'and she must have given it to you.'
Griffin nodded. 'She did, but she told me you wanted it back. I can get my own broom, so if you want it-'
'I can't take it back,' Bagsy said suddenly, taking a step away. 'It wouldn't be fair.'
'I wouldn't mind, really,' Griffin insisted but Bagsy shook her head.
'No, honestly, I have a broom and it's really nice, so I don't need this one.' She realised that she'd prefer her broom to become good through her own work on it, rather than just buying a broom already perfect.
Griffin straightened and looked at Bontie. 'You weren't lying, she's a lovely girl.' Bagsy's face flushed. Griffin looked back to her. 'I hear you play quidditch?'
'How do you-?' She cut off. She'd written to Bontie about everything she'd been doing that year, so it didn't take her that long to figure out how he knew.
'I play for a team in the league,' Griffin explained. 'The Rocketing Unicorns. I doubt you've heard of them, they're pretty-'
'I have heard of them!' Bagsy cut in excitedly, then, stalling, 'sorry for interrupting, I just got excited...'
'It's no worries. How did you hear about us? We aren't that well known.'
'My friend,' Bagsy explained. 'She's a huge fan.' She felt her throat tighten. Thinking about Greenda made her feel like the world's tiniest mouse cowering in a corner. Mezrielda had kept her word, and she and Bagsy had written to each other almost every day, mainly so Bagsy could complain about her parents never being there, and so Mezrielda could complain about her parents never not being there. Greenda, however, had sent one very short letter in response that she was busy revising, and that she was sorry for not talking to her as much but thought it best Bagsy stick with the friends she had who were her own age, and had ignored every other letter Bagsy had sent.
Bagsy thought about sending a letter to Greenda letting her know that one of her favourite Quidditch players was at her house but decided that if Greenda was going to start talking to her again she didn't want her to be lured into it.
'My point was,' Griffin continued, 'my Christmas gift to you is offering my help to do some training.'
Bagsy couldn't hold back a beaming grin. 'That sounds great!'
Christmas that year was the best one Bagsy had ever had. Griffin and Bontie cooked a meal from scratch and let Bagsy help where she could. Griffin showed her a great trick where, when Bontie wasn't looking, he put flour on his hands and then patted her on the back. Griffin and Bagsy held back giggles as more and more flour accumulated on the back of Bontie's robes.
'Why is all this flour falling on the floor around me?' Bontie said in confusion as she turned around, making the flour fall in small dusty clumps to the floor. It was obvious to Bagsy what had happened, and Bontie was a smart woman, but she hadn't seemed to figure out their trick, and Bagsy had never found anything more amusing.
She didn't catch the knowing wink Bontie gave Griffin, who smirked back.
Once the meal was done the three sat down to look upon a table filled with brussels sprouts, gravy, roast potatoes, bread sauce, tender vegetables and a nut roast. Christmas crackers appeared with a wave of Bontie's wand and soon Bagsy had two ridiculous looking Christmas hats on her head, as Bontie had refused to wear hers. Griffin placed a Christmas hat that had ice skaters skating around the rim on his own head and shook this way and that, making the skaters fall over and slide out of control.
'How did you two meet?' Bagsy asked as they started desert.
'At the Ministry,' Griffin explained around a mouthful of Christmas pudding that was still flaming with harmless, magical fire.
'Close your mouth,' Bontie scolded him in a not unfriendly manner.
'I thought you were a Quidditch player?' Bagsy asked.
'I am,' Griffin confirmed.
'Before I was promoted to the Department for the Rehabilitation of Magical Creatures, I worked small cases of minor law infringements. His broom was modified in some very illegal ways.' Bontie frowned disapprovingly. 'I had to take him in for a warning.'
'It was pretty hilarious.' Griffin snickered.
'Yes – I loved having bristles twine with my hair and refuse to let go.'
'It took me an hour or so to pull them from her 'gorgeous brown locks',' Griffin teased. Bontie rolled her eyes but smirked in amusement. 'And an hour was all I needed to convince her to have a coffee with me.'
'Please, I asked you for a coffee.'
'Well, yes, technically, but you only beat me by a second.'
When the meal was done, Griffin offered to do the cleaning so Bontie and Bagsy could give each other their gifts.
Bagsy had brewed, to the best of her ability, which was half decent she thought, a potion for dreamless sleep, like the one Mezrielda had acquired for her from Blythurst. She had stored the liquid in bottles she'd worked into the shape of Bontie's name, so that there were six vials in total. It had taken her the majority of her holiday so far to make. 'I figured you get so tired with your work at the Ministry you might appreciate some of these,' she explained awkwardly, worried her present wasn't all that good.
Bontie looked over joyed. 'Who knew you could brew potions so well! You'd never guess just looking at you,' she teased. 'You look more like the collecting acorns and hiding them for next year kind of person.'
'I don't look that much like a squirrel!'
Griffin chimed in from the kitchen, where he was using magic to scrub baking trays, 'She's way more a mouse than a squirrel, Bontie. If that hair isn't the picture-child of mousey brown I don't know what is.'
Bontie had made Bagsy a new quilt, decorated in the same way as the last one, and with the same warming charms to always be the perfect temperature for the user. Bagsy couldn't be happier to have a replacement for her stolen gift.
'And,' Bontie added, looking rather proud, 'I invented a neat little spell that tucks the quilt underneath your feet automatically, so it's much easier to get comfortable.'
'Maybe you should go into the quilt business,' Griffin called.
Bontie waved her hand dismissively. 'And leave the Ministry to fall apart without me? I don't think so.' Something serious flashed in Bontie's eyes. 'No. My work is far too vital to give up on.'
After Bagsy had finished opening the rest of her presents – more tools for her bottomless toolbox, rat food and toys, and a broom cleaning kit – it was dark outside and she was feeling very tired indeed. She said goodnight to her sister, and thanked Griffin for coming to visit, before trudging sleepily up to bed. She thought he seemed very nice and approved her sister's choice of boyfriend. Pulling her new quilt over herself and snuggling into her plush bed, Jill and Bill having scurried over to sleep next to her, she dozed off.
Something woke her up when it was pitch dark. Something was nibbling her nose.
'Jill?' Bagsy asked in confusion, getting up and lighting a candle. Sure enough, Jill was moving about excitedly. Bill, who was ignoring Jill, was lying down sleeping. 'Jill, what's up?' Had Jill had noticed something Bagsy hadn't?
Jill leapt from the bed and rushed over to the window, placing her little rat feet on the glass with an encouraging squeak. Bagsy looked but it was so dark outside she couldn't see what Jill was trying to show her.
Suddenly, Jill turned and ran from the room.
'Jill!' Bagsy exclaimed, following her worriedly. Bagsy followed Jill not thinking about where she was or what she was doing until, Jill having found a hole somewhere in the house to escape through, she got outside. Bagsy threw open the sliding doors and rushed out after her.
Jill stood on the precipice of the house's ward – the magical field that kept out all the kinds of dangers that Aesher Common held. The cold air grasped at Bagsy who suddenly felt the darkness pressing around her like water in the deep ocean. The candle's pitiful glow barely reached her feet.
A light snapped into existence beyond the ward – the kind of light Bagsy couldn't explain. It wasn't from the lighting charm; the source of light was too large and wrong in colour.
'Hello?' a voice called. She recognized it. 'Is Bagsy there?' By now Jill had clambered onto her shoulder and Bagsy, quaking from fear, placed her hand on Jill for comfort. She couldn't bring herself to speak. 'Bagsy, if you're there, I can't see or hear you until you step beyond the ward, and I can't come through the ward or I'll forget why I need to be here.' Bagsy wasn't stupid – like she was going to trust some strange voice in the darkness. 'You've met me. I'm the muggle boy you saved from those crows. I was trying to find you, to warn you, but when you pulled me through that ward its defences wiped my mind of my intentions for this place. I forgot the warning I needed to give you.'
Bagsy stood still.
'I really need to tell you. I've been told this message is really important,' the boy continued. Bagsy still couldn't make him out, her candle's light didn't go past the ward's boundary. She took a step back. This was a trick and she wasn't going to fall for it.
'Please trust me, Bagsy,' the voice begged.
She hesitated.
Already regretting her decision, she stepped beyond the ward's safety, the candle shaking in her hands as she tried to stay calm. As soon as the candle passed through the ward it lit up the face of the boy Bagsy had saved from the crows. He was small with shoulder length hair as bushy as Bagsy's and a flat nose.
'Thank you,' the boy said breathlessly, as if he couldn't believe his luck.
'S-say the m-message quickly,' Bagsy begged, moving back towards the ward fearfully.
'You're in danger.' The boy's voice was ominous.
Bagsy's heart pumped loudly. 'Right now?'
'No. Yes. Kind of.' He took a breath. 'I don't know where the danger is, but it's after you, and you need to be careful.'
'Who told you t-this?' Bagsy stammered, glancing around for the ambush she expected to lurch form the dark any second.
'The worms.'
Bagsy's eyes snapped back onto the boy. 'The worms?'
'It sounds crazy, I know,' he said, 'but they told me I had to warn you – had to tell you of the danger you're in. They said so at the end of summer and I kept trying to find you to warn you.' He let out a relieved sigh. 'At last I've done it.'
'What kind of danger? From who?' Bagsy pressed, gripping the candle so tightly her fingers began to burn.
'I don't know.' The boy rubbed the back of his head. 'I'm still getting better at talking to the worms so it's not always clear what they want. Plus, some crows ate them before we could have a proper talk. Now, crows seem to follow me everywhere, killing any worm I come near. I used to be able to speak with the worms all the time, but now I can't get a word in before a cluster of black feathers snatch them away.' Bagsy stared at him blankly. What was going on between worms and crows? It was all very strange and terrifying. 'I know they want you to be careful, Bagsy,' he continued, 'and not to take any unnecessary risks.'
Like the one I'm taking now? Bagsy would have said if she'd been brave enough. Instead she just nodded. Despite how scared and small she felt, she couldn't help looking at the strange device the boy was holding that cast light. 'What's that?' she asked.
The boy looked down. 'A torch.'
'It makes light?'
'Yeah.'
Bagsy looked at the torch enviously. Even a muggle could summon light on command when she couldn't perform the lighting charm yet. She felt hopelessly useless.
'I have two,' the boy offered, pulling a second one from a back pack he was wearing. 'Do you want it?'
Bagsy nodded, carefully taking it from his hand. 'Thank you.'
There was a cold squawk in the distance.
The boy turned his torch off. 'I've got to go,' he said. Bagsy heard footsteps moving away at a running speed and quickly hopped back inside the safety of the ward's wall. She looked down at the torch in her hand, pressing the button on the top. Light sprung to life at its end, showering the grass in front of her with brightness. Bagsy felt much safer walking back to her room with it. Nothing could jump out at her with this.