'This is for you!' Bagsy got out quickly, rushing over to Professor Blythurst. She was back at Hogwarts, garbed in her quidditch gear, and on her way to Hufflepuff's first match of the year.
Blythurst looked down at her. The large, pale, asymmetrical man was hobbling over to the quidditch pitch amongst a crowd of students and teachers. Bagsy thrust a letter into his shaking hand.
Blythurst's eyes zeroed in on it, a disapproving expression stretching across his scared face. 'Pepsini...' he croaked in disgust. 'Now he's getting...' Blythurst took a shuddering breath, 'students to do his dirty work for him. I'm... sorry he involved...' a cough, 'you in this.'
'It's no worries,' Bagsy rushed her sentence – Teresa was pulling on her sleeve, hauling her in the direction of the rest of the Hufflepuff team.
'Come on!' Teresa whined. 'We don't have time for this!'
Bagsy excused herself from Professor Blythurst and followed after her. They raced to the team tent, ducking inside to find the other members already gathered.
'This is our chance,' Ford murmured seriously, his fists clenched at his sides, once they'd all finished getting into their quidditch gear. 'No one out there, not ever our own house, thinks we can do this. They haven't seen the effort we've put into training, they haven't seen our determination.' Ford pointed at them, a fierce look in his eyes. 'Now is the time to show it!'
Some of the team were sitting on the benches, their brooms and gear to their sides, whilst others, like Bagsy, were standing tall and stiff, their faces focussed as they listened intently to Ford.
'Everyone stand in a huddle,' Ford said suddenly as the idea came to him.
Bagsy and Teresa shared a confused look but didn't complain. Jon came to Bagsy's other side, who in turn was flanked by Ford as they all put their arms over the shoulders of the people next to them. Emmeline and Greenda paused as they realised they would be next to each other in the circle.
'Emmeline, Greenda,' Ford said warningly. The two didn't move.
'Please,' Bagsy added in a small voice. Emmeline and Greenda looked at each other in silence. With an angry sigh and a frown, Emmeline threw her arm over Greenda's shoulder and pulled her into the circle, Greenda looking like she'd been turned to stone at the action.
'We can win this,' Ford said, looking around the circle and fixing them all with a hard stare, 'or at the very least, we can come close. Hufflepuff are done being a joke. We are in this competition, and we are going to show them we're a threat. Hufflepuff on three,' he announced. 'One, two, three!'
'Hufflepuff!' they all yelled together, before walking out onto the pitch.
The first thing that Bagsy noticed was that Ravenclaw had some new players since last year; one of which, a chaser, was Robin Ignis. The second thing Bagsy noticed was that Robin and Winifred looked awful. They were incredibly pale, their fiery amber eyes dull and grey, with dark bags below their eyes. Bagsy could relate – she had been feeling the tug of tiredness for a while now. She hadn't had a proper sleep for about a week. She'd been relying on exhaust-gone instead.
As Bagsy stared Winifred coughed, and she saw smoke spill out of the girl's mouth. 'Oh, no...' Bagsy trailed off, wondering how they had been allowed on the pitch in such a state.
Professor Kim was standing in the middle of the pitch, her foot on the chest containing the bludgers and golden snitch, and held against her side was the quaffle. The entire school seemed to have turned up for the show and were cheering wildly from the stands.
Bagsy cast a glance to the Hufflepuff section in case Mezrielda was there. When she couldn't spot her, she turned her attention to the Slytherins and there, in the back row, she saw her, sitting behind Maisy and Paloma. Mezrielda gave her a calm look and a polite wave and Bagsy beamed brightly back, countering with an enthusiastic waving of her own. Mezrielda averted her eyes and scowled; her way of telling Bagsy to focus. Bagsy briefly wondered why Paloma was sitting in the Slytherin area before she obliged Mezrielda's wish, keeping her mind on the game.
Finding the entire school's eyes on her had never been particularly enjoyable, but for once Bagsy managed to shrug her nerves off on her own and confidently mounted her broom.
'Begin!' Professor Kim called, hurling the quaffle up into the air and kicking the chest open. The bludgers sprung free and rocketed about, the golden snitch already disappearing into the wind.
The players zoomed into action. Bagsy clasped her bat tightly, her mind pathing the movements of the opponent's chasers and trying to calculate where and when she needed to hit the bludgers to obstruct them. She didn't want to aim for them too soon or they'd have a few seconds freedom to get to the goals before Bagsy would reach another bludger she could hit their way, but she couldn't go for them too late either, as the more momentum they picked up the harder they would be to hit.
'And so begins another year of quidditch!' came the voice of Magnus Alden, announcing from the commentators box. 'Will Hufflepuff score any points this year? Probably not!' A spattering of chuckles met his taunt. Bagsy glanced over at him; Blythurst was meant to be moderating the match's commentary, but instead he was slouched in a large seat that seemed to absorb him as his tired body receded into it. He looked in no state to speak, let alone reprimand Magnus.
Gritting her teeth, Bagsy turned back to the game. The chasers were approaching the goals.
'Bagsy!' Teresa called at her. 'Mirror!'
Bagsy's eyes lit up – she'd briefly mentioned the idea of mirror to Teresa at training, she'd never thought she'd had actually listened. Bagsy nodded. 'Got it!' she called, swooping off. She was going to be Teresa's reflection. Teresa would fly at the Ravenclaw with the quaffle and hit a bludger towards them. The chaser, seeing her approach, would focus on Teresa and prepare to dodge, before most likely scoring. However, at the last second...
'What was that aim?' Magnus asked jokingly as Teresa enacted what Bagsy had envisioned in her mind. Instead of aiming for the chaser she hit the bludger deliberately over their head. Magnus had missed the crucial aspect of this play; his full attention, like the chaser's, was fixed on Teresa. They missed Bagsy who, like Teresa's reflection in a mirror, had positioned herself and waited silently on the chaser's other side.
Teresa had aimed the bludger at Bagsy and, with a satisfying thwack that Bagsy felt along her whole arm, she easily hit the bludger back towards the chaser. At the last second, hearing the loud crack from their other side, the chaser realised their mistake, but it was too late. They'd already committed to dodging the attack they'd been expecting from Teresa and had no room to make another duck.
The bludger collided with their shoulder and the chaser dropped the quaffle, spinning off course and barely recovering in time.
'Yes!' Teresa fist pumped the air. Bagsy couldn't hold back a smile. Teresa pointed up towards Magnus. 'That's called teamwork!' she cried. 'And that's how we're going to win!'
Bagsy felt all fired up now, her grip tightening on her broom. Maybe they could win this.
Robin swooped towards the quaffle, trying to gain possession again, but her weakened hands slipped as they tried to grab it and Ford easily picked the ball up instead.
'Hufflepuff gain possession...' Magnus trailed off in surprise.
Ford sped towards the other end of the pitch, Kat flying behind and above him, Jon below.
Bagsy shot towards a bludger. The Ravenclaw's defence was already forming tightly around the goal posts. She could see what Ford was planning – a crocodile spin – and knew they'd need some help to pull it off.
'Teresa! Get the left blocker!' Bagsy cried. She was going to aim for the right chaser. If they both succeeded only the middle defender would be left to assist the keeper.
But Bagsy was too slow, a Ravenclaw beater reached the bludger before her and hit it down towards Ford.
'Ford!' Bagsy cried. Ford lay down flat against his broom, gripping it vice tight. The bludger was moments from hitting him. Ford began to corkscrew as he shot forward, becoming a blur.
'Who's he passing too?' one of the defending chasers asked in panic. Ford was spinning so fast it was difficult to tell his plan – which was exactly the point of the crocodile spin. The other chaser couldn't respond, they'd been forced away by a well-aimed bludger from Teresa.
'Come on...' Bagsy urged under her breath.
Just as the bludger sent by the Ravenclaw collided with Ford's back, he released the quaffle. It shot down below him.
It was nowhere near Jon and Bagsy groaned inwardly – the crocodile spin was notoriously difficult for this reason, the person passing wasn't able to look at where they were throwing and it was on the chaser to have the reaction time and speed to grab it anyway.
'More bad aim from the Hufflepuffs!' Magnus analysed. 'Woah!' he let slip as Jon nose-dived to the quaffle and grabbed it deftly, despite its distance from him. The defenders, way out of position to respond to him, could only watch as Jon rocketed past and threw the quaffle through the goal.
'T-ten points to... Hufflepuff...' Magnus trailed off, astounded. The Hufflepuff stand broke out into loud cheers.
Their hard practise had clearly paid off, as the Hufflepuff team managed to gain goal after goal, though Bagsy soon realised that Ford was taking advantage of the weakness in Robin. She looked sickly, and her movements were slow and sluggish. She dropped the ball, blocked incorrectly, and seemed to be in a fog of confusion.
'Robin is robbin' her team of victory!' Magnus joked as the game continued. Bagsy grit her teeth angrily – did he have to be so cruel?
She heard Emmeline laugh loudly behind her. 'Good one, Magnus,' Emmeline said to herself, tightening her head gear as Robin approached, quaffle in hand. Emmeline barely had to move – Robin aimed her shot straight at her. Practised from when Greenda had mercilessly thrown quaffles at her, Emmeline easily caught it.
'You're aiming for the goal post, not the keeper!' Magnus unhelpfully reminded Robin, who hung her head in shame.
'Greenda!' Emmeline suddenly shouted to her left as Greenda hovered above them. 'Hurry up and find that snitch! We want to end this quickly!'
Greenda shot a glare in Emmeline's direction. 'Shut up and focus on yourself!' she hissed.
'Their seeker's totally out of it! She looks like she's about to be sick!' Emmeline pointed out, gesturing at the other end of the pitch where Winifred was wavering side to side on her broom. 'Now's your chance!'
'I said shut it!'
Bagsy stilled her broom, her arm falling to her side. Winifred did look like she was about to be sick – except, not in a normal way. Smoke was trailing out of the corners of her mouth and ears.
With a sinking feeling, Bagsy glanced around the stands, scanning the onlookers, a worst case scenario already forming in her head. Sitting with the teachers, tiny spectacles perched high on his tiny nose, was Mr Mortem.
Oh.
Oh dear.
Shooting across the pitch towards Winifred, Bagsy ignored the perfect opening she'd had to aim a bludger at a chaser blocking Kat's path.
'Bagsy!' Teresa shouted in annoyance, ducking in to take the shot she should have. 'Pay attention!'
Bagsy didn't hear her, she was too busy thinking. When doppelgangers overused their powers they turned to dust – she'd never considered if any such consequences happened when innate abilities were suppressed and prevented from being used. Was Winifred in trouble because of the suppression of her fire? 'Call a time-out!' Bagsy yelled as she whizzed past Ford.
Ford blinked at her in confusion. 'Why?'
'Their seeker-' Bagsy was too far away from him to finish the rest of her sentence. She hoped it'd be enough. When she heard Kim's whistle blow a second later to call play to a halt she let out a sigh of relief that Ford had taken her seriously.
Reaching Winifred, Bagsy grabbed her by the elbow and flew her to the Ravenclaw team tent. 'Get in!' Bagsy urged as they flew through the tent flaps. Winifred practically fell off her broom and onto the floor, rolling deeper into the room. Her dull eyes now seemed to be on fire, flames licking around her pupils in barely supressed fury.
'Everything... huuuuuurts...' Winifred groaned, rolling from side to side on the floor.
'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,' Bagsy muttered, kneeling next to her. 'Um... just... uh... take deep breaths!'
Winifred did and Bagsy smelt burning every time she opened her mouth.
There was a clatter and Bagsy turned to see Robin had crash landed into the tent as well. She stumbled over to them. Winifred reached out to Robin, who took her hand.
'I feel like when we got those colds last summer,' Robin complained, her voice strained. Winifred nodded, wincing. Then, her eyes widened. It was the look someone gave seconds before they threw up. The look that they knew what was coming and knew they couldn't stop it. It was the look of someone who only had a few seconds to react.
Winifred reacted by harshly kicking Bagsy in the gut, sending her sprawling to the floor and away from her. Bagsy was confused, until she was terrified. A ball of fire erupted out of Winifred in a massive belch. It filled the area around them, gushing upwards but, thankfully, not reaching the tent fabric, instead spreading out like a wave of heat. Scorching pain hit the side of Bagsy that was facing upwards like a full body tackle. Squeezing her eyes shut, Bagsy prayed she wouldn't burn alive. It sure felt like she would.
Then there was a second wave of heat. When Bagsy glanced over she saw why – Robin, as if set off by Winifred's explosion, was also aflame. The sisters were both now standing, arms thrown out wide, fire sparking from their forms. She watched the growing strands that had been on each of their bald heads fizzle and vanish in the fire.
'Colliquify,' came a sharp, angry voice. The fire spreading through the tent abruptly turned to water, never having the chance to even scorch the tent fabric. The liquid hovered above them for a moment, before descending. Bagsy jolted as she was hit by a freezing wall of water, soaking through instantly. For a moment, her body couldn't tell if it had been hit with extreme cold or if she'd been suddenly and entirely burnt to a crisp.
Professor Starrett lowered her wand, walking over to Winifred and Robin. Bagsy's heart lurched up into her throat – what would Starrett make of Winifred and Robin spontaneously combusting? Winifred and Robin looked equally worried. They stood in their scorched Quidditch gear, glancing at each other and then Starrett.
'What's going on in here?' a nasally voice asked, approaching the tent.
'No time to explain,' Starrett snapped at the three students. 'Stand together. Quickly, now,' she hissed, fury etched harshly into her features. Dazed and confused, they did as they were told. Clearly, Starrett wasn't surprised in the slightest. Perhaps she was one of the faculty Winifred had said, back on the Hogwarts express at the start of the year, knew about their powers. 'Dayblua,' Starrett murmured, deep concentration replacing her anger. She spent what felt like an age with her eyes closed moving her wand carefully from side to side. The owner of the voice, that sounded worryingly like Mr Mortem, was drawing closer. Finally, Starrett made an arm motion as if she were throwing a blanket over Bagsy, Winifred and Robin, before quickly waving her wand at the burn marks around the tent, vanishing them.
Mr Mortem pushed his way in. 'Emese?'
'That's Professor Starrett, to you,' she snapped, rushing towards him. Mr Mortem didn't seem to notice the three students standing right in front of him. 'You're not allowed in here, get out,' she added fiercely. When Mr Mortem didn't see what he'd been looking for, he left out a huff and turned back around, leaving the tent. Starrett followed closely behind him but paused at the entrance. 'You fools,' she hissed softly back at the students. 'When you can, go back onto the pitch and act like nothing happened. Say Bagsy got stage fright and needed a moment alone. Say you took pity on her and helped her do so.' With that, Starrett was gone.
When they slipped out of the tent a few minutes later, Bagsy felt as if she was also slipping out of whatever invisibility enchantment Starrett had placed on them – as if a sheet was falling off her shoulders and revealing her to human eyes once more.
Thankfully, their brooms had been lying at the entrance of the tent and seemed to have survived most of the fire damage, though the bristles were a little singed. She glanced over at Winifred and Robin – both of them looked a lot more animated and colourful, their cheeks flushed a rosy colour, their eyes holding that familiar fiery hue without the threat of flames behind them.
Kim looked unimpressed. 'What on earth was all this nonsense about?' she asked in confusion.
'Bagsy got stage fright, duuuuh,' Winifred said, smiling crookedly and pointing at Bagsy with her thumb. 'Because she's Bagsy. It's what she does.'
Bagsy ducked her head sheepishly, trying not to think about the inferno she'd been in only minutes ago.
'Well, alright, uh, I guess, so long as everything is okay now...' Kim said, sounding unsure of what to do. In the end, she pulled the whistle towards her mouth and restarted the match in favour of giving any commands.
They mounted their brooms and just like that, the game was back on, but Bagsy couldn't focus.
She didn't understand how Winifred and Robin seemed even more in the game now than they had been before, or how they weren't more concerned about the flames they'd been unable to hold back. It was no surprise, then, when Bagsy found herself missing the bludger she'd been aiming at Robin, who was speeding towards the goal posts. It hadn't even been close.
'Bagsy!' Teresa groaned. 'Come on! You can do this!'
'Ravenclaw are pulling back!' Magnus announced as they scored goal after goal, Emmeline unable to block Robin's suddenly improved aim and vigour, and Bagsy feeling too shell-shocked and now, she released, exhausted, to place her bludgers where they needed to be.
It wasn't long before Winifred was darting after the snitch. Bagsy tried to get to a bludger to aim it at her, but only ended up flying into Teresa as she tried.
'For goodness sake!' Teresa snapped at Bagsy, shoving her off her.
Bagsy barely stayed on her broom as her eyelids began to involuntarily close. 'S-sorry,' she murmured, wondering why the world was spinning.
'Greenda!' Emmeline called, Bagsy barely hearing her. 'Get that damn snitch!'
Greenda was a missile on Winifred's tail, but she was too slow, and Bagsy watched Winifred's calm fingers curl around the golden ball.
Bagsy let out a groan.
'Winifred catches the snitch! Ravenclaw wins!' Magnus announced happily, to cheers from the Ravenclaw stand.
Greenda sat panting on her broom, her face murderous.
'Bagsy,' Emmeline flew over to her, her expression dark with rage, 'can you tell Greenda-'
'Bagsy!' Greenda cut across Emmeline, flying up to them, 'can you tell Emmeline-'
Bagsy looked blearily from one girl to the other, her shoulders shuddering, her mind slipping like water between her fingers. 'Please,' she breathed quietly as her eyes began to flutter closed. Why was she feeling so tired? Why were Emmeline and Greenda's voices so far away all of a sudden? She instinctually reached for her pocket, for some exhaust-gone, before numbly realising it was in her school robes, not her quidditch gear. 'Please, stop talking... so loudly...' Greenda and Emmeline didn't listen to her, too busy squabbling to notice her slowly tilt to the side.
Bagsy's broom was falling out of her limp hands and away from her, and a sudden breeze was rushing past her back and blowing her hair into her face.
Bagsy let out a contented sigh as she fell asleep mid-fall.