It was with great relief that Bagsy heard Teresa's excited shout from the next room.
'It's hatching!' she called. Neve, Itsuki and Jon got up to go see what Teresa was wailing about at nine in the evening. As they moved into the girls' dormitory, Bagsy hesitantly got up to follow. Her muscles were stiff from Thaumathletics – Kim was still convinced they needed more fitness preparation before they could move onto the magical elements and Bagsy was starting to get frustrated with the waiting. It was nothing on the other students, though, who were grinding their teeth in annoyance. If Bagsy had one thing other pupils often didn't, it was patience.
'What's this?' Jon asked, as he ducked into the girl's dorm, following Teresa's voice.
'Hey! No boys!' Rebekah said angrily. Neve shrunk down timidly.
'Who cares,' Teresa shot unsympathetically at Rebekah, who huffed and left the room, shoving past Jon.
Itsuki looked uncomfortable. 'Maybe we shouldn't be in here,' he offered.
Teresa looked unconvinced. 'It's not like anyone's changing right now. If anyone has a problem with it they need to grow up. Anyway, we're not here to discuss people being silly, we're here because look!' Teresa held out a large terrarium, inside of which was a strange creature. It was long, like a centipede, with multiple pairs of wings, each with the pattern of a human skull upon them. 'It's my death's-head hawk moth! It finally came out.'
While the others inspected the strange creature, Bagsy was busy eying the chrysalis in the corner of the box. She was sure Teresa wouldn't mind if she took it, but Mezrielda didn't want Teresa to know about their project and Bagsy wasn't sure how she could ask for it without being suspicious. Guilt crawled along her skin as she realised she'd have to steal it from her.
As Teresa moved the moth from the terrarium into a netted bag she explained it would need a larger habitat that Belta Zotova had set up for her, given how large it could grow. She claimed it could get up to the size of a horse, though Bagsy wasn't sure if she was exaggerating or not. Teresa left the terrarium at the edge of her bed. Bagsy couldn't take her eyes off of it.
That night, Bagsy decided she would sleep in the girl's dormitory with the others. She got a few questions and odd looks, but she shrugged them off and said she'd had a bad dream the night before and wanted company. When asked where she usually slept she kept quiet – it wasn't as if she could have said anything in answer, even if she'd wanted to. The fidelius charm saw to that.
When night came Bagsy was lying in her bed, wide awake and sweating with anxiety. She hated what she had do, but she wasn't about to let months of hard work go to waste. Teresa wouldn't care if she lost her chrysalis. Teresa was queen of 'get over it' and 'don't let it bother you', so she wouldn't bat an eyelid if Bagsy stole it, would she?
Bagsy's thoughts chased themselves around her head all night, and she failed to pluck up the nerve to complete the act.
The following night was a similar story, as was the next. It was a full week before, in a fit of exhausted insanity, Bagsy managed to throw the covers off of herself and sit on the end of her bed. She'd been so preoccupied worrying over the coming theft she'd have to commit, that not even the random appearances of Mr Mortem from the ministry, and his continually failing inspections of Winifred and Robin, had caused her any real concern.
Bagsy looked over at the terrarium. Teresa had placed some ants in there and had used the left-over chrysalis as decoration. Palms sweaty, Bagsy stood and crept over to the end of Teresa's bed. She opened the box slowly and reached inside, taking a hold of the chrysalis and pulling it out. She shut the box swiftly so no ants could get out and turned to sneak to her private room, so she could sulk in her shame in peace.
'Dear lord, took you long enough,' Primrose tutted in a low whisper. She was standing next to Bagsy's bed, Bagsy's school robe held in one hand. 'Watching you agonise over this has been so dull. It seems you even have yourself fooled, thinking you're a nice person.' Bagsy's looked at Primrose, bugged eyed and heart-stopped. She was frozen in fear. 'Don't worry,' Primrose whispered with a wink. 'I won't tell if you don't.' And then Primrose pulled Bagsy's spell-sponge gloves and spider slippers from her robe. 'Think of this as a gift to help me remember to keep my mouth shut. I have such a scatter brain sometimes.' Primrose grinned falsely at her before dropping the robe on the floor. Bagsy jolted in shock as what was normally a quiet noise of fabric hitting the floor exploded in the silence. She glanced over her shoulder at the other girls, who didn't stir, before looking back at Primrose. 'So glad we could have this chat,' Primrose remarked quietly, grabbing one of Bagsy's cheeks, pinching it and pulling it from side to side painfully. 'Have a good night, Bagsy.' Primrose let go and silently walked to her own bed, climbing below the covers with the gloves and slippers clasped close to her chest.
Bagsy spent a minute standing looking at her in utter horror, blinking as her mind blanked, before hurrying to her private room.
When she told Mezrielda the next day, she was so close to crying that she struggled to get the words out.
'And now she h-h-has the gloves and slippers,' Bagsy rushed out, her eyes watery, 'and I d-don't know what to do, I spent a-ages on those! I don't have the materials or t-time to make more, I'm not sure I can remember exactly how I made them so I'd have to figure it out again, and what if she t-tells someone? What if Teresa finds out what I did? She'll never forgive me! And at this rate, the few friends I have will-'
Mezrielda placed a hand over Bagsy's mouth, who quieted instantly. Mezrielda, with the closest thing to a soft look she could manage, moved her hand to Bagsy's shoulder and laid it there comfortingly.
'Right,' Bagsy murmured. 'Breathe...'
Mezrielda nodded. Fetching some paper from her bag, Mezrielda quickly wrote out a few words. Bagsy dimly felt jealous at how neat her writing was before focussing on the words themselves.
I' ll deal with Primrose. Don' t worry.
'What do you mean?' Bagsy couldn't help asking. Mezrielda looked at her uncertainly, before relenting and writing her answer.
I've been practising magic. I've learnt how to cast obliviate. I can make her forget what she knows and take the items back from her.
Bagsy stared at the words, then up at Mezrielda. 'No,' she said after a pause, her voice thick. Mezrielda narrowed her eyes in confusion. Bagsy swallowed. 'I don't... I can't let someone have their memories meddled with. Not because of me. I... people's memories are their own. It's crossing a line...' Mezrielda looked unconvinced but, relented. It occurred to Bagsy that, when asked to, Mezrielda almost always backed down. It hit her how much she appreciated that about Mezrielda.
Alright. I'll leave her be. However, if she tries anything untoward, I'll be forced to act.
With a nod, Bagsy accepted that was fair.
It was the night of the full moon, and as Bagsy was heading towards her private room she heard a mournful wail from the girl's dormitory.
'Who took it!? Where did it go!?' Teresa was moaning, sounding as if someone had killed her grandmother.
'I'm sure it's somewhere...' Neve offered, her voice barely audible through the closed door. Bagsy ducked her head low and shot into her private room, awful feelings churning in her stomach. Clearly, Teresa did mind the absence of her chrysalis, even if it had taken her a while to notice.
She had other things she needed to think about besides Teresa, though. Tonight was the night she and Mezrielda would sneak out and begin the Animagus transformation. Tomorrow night, if everything went according to plan, Mezrielda would finally become an Animagus.
Bagsy waited until it was midnight, as Mezrielda had instructed, before slowly creaking the door to her room open. The Hufflepuff common room was deserted, even the dancing cacti had taken a break from their foxtrots and slumped forwards, asleep. With a sharp intake of breath, Bagsy stepped into the room, her cloak pulled tight around her, her robe filled with all the things she'd need, plus extra in case they encountered trouble, before heading to the exit.
Everything was going smoothly, the sleeping paintings unroused by her quiet footsteps, the patrolling professors nowhere in sight. She did sourly miss the added safety of moving along the ceilings, but without her spider gloves and slippers, there was no hope of that. Eventually, Bagsy reached the exit by the greenhouses. Mezrielda had recommended it because it had the most direct route to the patch of grass they were going to use, and because it was in a more secluded section of the castle.
It was with a jolt, and a very loud screech, that Bagsy reacted to a hand suddenly placed on her shoulder. When she spun around it was on instinct that she struck out her fist and punched Mezrielda square in the face.
Mezrielda reeled backwards, a hand flying to her nose, and a pained expression forming on her face, her eyes slowly widening into an angry shape as her brow furrowed. 'Bagzeey!' Mezrielda moaned around the mandrake leaf in her mouth. Blood was beginning to drip down from her nose and onto her cloak. Mezrielda was clutching it gingerly.
'Oh no, oh my, oh I'm so sorry!' Bagsy fussed, walking towards Mezrielda and holding her hands out, but not sure what to do with them or how to make it better. 'Wait! Oh no! You spoke!'
'Off couwse I sboke,' she retorted testily, 'ish just bepper if I don.'
'Ah,' Bagsy winced in relief. For one, speaking made it painfully obvious something was below Mezrielda's tongue, for another, Mezrielda was clearly struggling to talk without accidentally spitting the leaf out.
'Stars dat hort,' Mezrielda groaned, pacing around and tipping her head back while flicking her free hand back and forth to distract herself from the pain.
'I'm sorry,' Bagsy offered lamely.
Mezrielda gestured her hand forgivingly at Bagsy. 'No time do lose,' she reminded her, pinching her nose as she pushed the door open and let cold air surround them.
Soon, they were standing out on the open grass, the castle a looming figure behind them. Mezrielda nodded expectantly at Bagsy, who nodded back and produced the bronze cube from her robe. With the correct words, Bagsy unlocked the foldable forge and let it sprawl out over the lawn. The weather machine was sat expectantly in the middle.
'Quick,' Mezrielda urged her. Bagsy nodded, spinning the weather machine to land on the jar containing the tornado. With a pull of the smallest crank, Bagsy let a small amount of the weather release from the jar. It shot up into the sky and Bagsy had to brace herself against the force. Staring upwards, she watched at the clouds that had been covering the moon dispersed. The moonlight shone down on the Hogwarts grounds, bathing it in a gentle silver light. 'Bwilliant,' Mezrielda commented, sounding as impressed as she had been the first time. Bagsy couldn't help laughing at her voice, though. Mezrielda shot her a glare.
With a look of relief, that was only made odder by the drying blood on her nose and chin, Mezrielda spat the mandrake leaf out into her hands. 'That is phenomenal,' she breathed in relief, her shoulders sagging. She swiped her tongue around her mouth and slapped her lips together in distaste. 'I've certainly encountered more favourable flavours,' she admitted with a grimace. 'Oh, it is so good to talk again.' Her voice was mainly monotone despite the joyous content of her sentences. 'I am absolutely overjoyed right now.'
'Really?' Bagsy checked, not entirely convinced by the almost bored sound of Mezrielda's voice.
'Oh, yes,' Mezrielda confirmed and, sure enough, once she paid attention, Bagsy could hear the little signs of happiness that only Mezrielda managed to so subtly fill her words with. 'Now, this is where you come in,' Mezrielda explained, wiping the soggy leaf free of her saliva with a repulsed look. The moonlight glinted off the spit and Bagsy found herself glad she wasn't in Mezrielda's position.
'Here,' Bagsy said, pulling a vial from her pocket and holding it out to Mezrielda, who took it and began pushing the leaf inside. While she did, Bagsy turned the weather machine off, the wind dying down, and folded the forge back up, containing the weather machine, before sliding the bronze cube into her pocket. 'Now.' Bagsy felt a feeling of excitement crawl up inside of her as she reached out and plucked a hair from Mezrielda's head.
'Ouch!' Mezrielda complained.
'Do you want to become an Animagus or not?'
'Yes, yes,' she sighed.
'Then deal with it,' Bagsy said jokingly, feeling a lot like Teresa. Taking the vial from Mezrielda, she carefully put the hair inside. Then she pulled a wooden box and a silver teaspoon from her pocket.
'That robe is ludicrous,' Mezrielda murmured. 'How do you fit so much into it?'
'Pockets,' was all Bagsy said as she opened the box to inspect the grass she'd been keeping inside it. Sure enough, they were coated in dew. Taking the silver teaspoon Bagsy collected the dew that, as far as she was aware, had never touched human feet or been in sunlight. Then, she put one teaspoon worth of the dew into the vial with the hair and the leaf. Finally, she took the death's-head hawk moth chrysalis, broke off the correct amount, and placed that in the vial too, before pushing a cork in place over the opening.
'Put that in your secret room,' Mezrielda reminded her, already heading back towards the castle now their task was done. 'You're going to have to sleep in the girl's dormitory until we've finished tomorrow. We can't risk that potion being disturbed in any way or this could go very poorly for me indeed.'
Bagsy nodded. 'Sure.'
'Tomorrow night can't come soon enough.'
'Are you excited?'
Mezrielda looked away from her, puffing out her cheeks. 'Perhaps.' Bagsy couldn't help a chuckle. 'But,' Mezrielda added, jutting her chin out pompously, 'I also don't want to have to recite 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus' any more than I have too. It's a ridiculous spell and very obvious. If anyone with half a brain cell hears me say it they'll figure out what we've been doing.'
'How often do you have to say it?'
'Every sunrise and sundown until I complete the spell.'
'That's... annoying.'
Mezrielda tusked, folding her arms. 'It certainly is, which is why we need to hurry and perform the spell tomorrow.'
They were about to reach the door leading back inside when Bagsy took a hold of Mezrielda elbow, stopping her. Mezrielda stalled, looking back at her. It took Bagsy a moment to wonder when Mezrielda's confused expression had become so familiar. Even with blood on her face she looked friendly, somehow, which struck Bagsy as odd. Mezrielda was the least friendly person in existence. She decided it was the soft moonlight making her friend seem so homely. 'Mezrielda,' Bagsy began, uncertainly. Something had been bothering her. 'You keep saying 'we'.'
Mezrielda blinked, her mouth slowly opening. 'I have?'
'Yes.'
'My apologies,' Mezrielda said, looking wary.
'No! I wanted to say thanks. I like it. It's been really fun, working on this project with you. It hasn't been anything like the other stuff this year because, well, as you've been saying, it's both of us doing it together.' Bagsy let go of Mezrielda's elbow and tried to smile as kindly as she could.
Mezrielda swallowed and let out a small, awkward laugh before schooling her expression into its usual neutrality. 'Of course, Bagsy,' she responded, turning to the door and pushing it open. 'I've enjoyed this, too. Additionally, unlike yourself, I'll be able to turn into an animal at the end.'
'I bet you'll be a bat.'
'Why?'
'You know,' Bagsy teased, holding her hands up to her mouth and making mock fangs with them. 'Vampire child, remember?'
Mezrielda cuffed her softly over her head before pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping her bloody face. 'Adopted, remember?'
At breakfast the next day, Mezrielda looked dishevelled. For once, it was her who had bags below her eyes, and she'd missed a few spots of blood below her nose, which was slightly bruised from Bagsy's punch.
'Sorry about that,' Bagsy apologised upon seeing it.
'You must be hiding some serious strength below that robe, Bagsy,' Mezrielda complained. 'I definitely didn't expect you to throw such a devastating hit.'
Bagsy shrugged. 'I don't think I'm that strong, am I?' She did spend a lot of time working with her arms, she supposed.
Mezrielda glanced over Bagsy's shoulder, into the distance, and let out a sigh, hunching her shoulders. 'Here we go.'
'Someone's awfully talkative this morning,' Primrose sneered as she walked past them and towards where Rebekah and Logan were already eating.
'My vow of silence was meant to last only a month, no longer,' Mezrielda explained, sounding more tired than she had before. Bagsy noticed her eyes check the surroundings for listeners, until Mezrielda seemed satisfied no one would overhear her next words. 'Speaking of vows ending, anytime you wish to end your vow of ugliness you may. You've very effectively demonstrated the downsides of poor appearance.'
Primrose's eyes narrowed to slits. 'See? No nice girl in sight. There's nothing but nastiness hidden below the popularity.'
Mezrielda shot Primrose her own sneer. 'I never claimed otherwise.'
Primrose breezed on, crossing her arms moodily, 'It's awfully coincidental that your vow of silence began and ended on a full moon.'
'I'm a fan of symbolism,' Mezrielda said casually, turning back to her breakfast.
'You look unkempt, perhaps Bagsy's been a bad influence. I do hope you haven't been going places you shouldn't.'
Mezrielda tutted, her patience clearly leaving her. 'Either go and tell a professor on us or shut that lavatory you call a mouth.'
'Hmph.' Primrose sauntered off to her seat, leaving them be and choosing the latter.
'We better complete this as soon as we can,' Mezrielda murmured, then leant closer to Bagsy with a guilty look. 'I'd like to suggest a slight change of plan.'
Bagsy side-eyed Mezrielda. 'What?' she asked flatly, sensing she was about to propose something she very much wouldn't like.
Mezrielda said, sniffing importantly, 'It is my belief that we will need to go further than the grassy areas of Hogwarts to perform the spell tonight.'
Bagsy narrowed her eyes. 'Where?'
'You see, when you used the weather machine last night, it became apparent to me that an electrical storm would be even less inconspicuous then the strong wind you summoned previously. The light, the noise, the clouds... it would be a mammoth, embarrassingly obvious arrow to where our rule breaking would be commencing.'
'Stop using big words to hide what you're saying,' Bagsy complained.
Mezrielda held up a finger as if she were schooling a toddler. 'Thus, I feel it a necessary precaution to isolate ourselves further from the castle, and within a biome conducive to concealment of large-scale witchery-'
'Mez!' Bagsy cut her off, outright scowling now.
Mezrielda sighed, her perfect posture dropping in defeat. 'We need to do this in the forbidden forest.' Bagsy stared at her. 'I realise this isn't news you want to hear,' Mezrielda murmured. 'But I was walking behind Professor Kim and Professor Wattleseed on my way here, and Kim was trying to convince Wattleseed that she had heard a strange noise, like a sudden tornado, last night, and was trying to convince him that he must have heard it too. If we summon an electrical storm within spitting distance of Hogwarts' windows we're asking to be discovered.'
Bagsy looked at her plate in thought. Around her, owls were beginning to swoop down and drop letters off, students were talking and laughing with each other, playing wizards' chess or strange exploding card games. None of them would go into the forbidden forest, they were good students who followed the rules.
But, then again, none of them had spent endless sleepless nights trying to cast the most basic of spells. They had other avenues to express their talent, to have fun. All Bagsy had were her inventions, her projects, and she hadn't been more invested in a project than she had been with her weather machine. In that moment it really hit her what she'd achieved – how many third-year students could say they had, from nearly scratch, created a contraption to command the weather at will? Bagsy reckoned she was, perhaps, the only one, even if she'd had to use parts created by other spellcasters to help her. 'It's not the rule breaking that bothers me,' Bagsy whispered after a paused, her skin prickling at even the idea of entering the forbidden forest.
Mezrielda nodded solemnly. 'I figured it wouldn't be.'
'It's more the stupidity of it,' Bagsy elaborated. Mezrielda arched an eyebrow. 'Who knows what's in the forbidden forest waiting to get us? All kinds of terrible creatures and monsters, far more powerful then we could ever dream of being, are supposed to be there.'
Mezrielda gave her head a minute shake of disagreement. 'I'll be with you, Bagsy,' she explained, as if that was all there was too it.
Bagsy looked around her again. The creak of old wooden benches, the chatter of gossip and the crackling of the fireplaces fizzled in her thinking mind. It wasn't as if she'd never been in danger before, and Mezrielda would be with her, and they'd already put months and months of work and planning into this. Plus, Primrose was on to them, and Mezrielda had to repeat that sickeningly obvious spell every sunrise and sunset. The clock was ticking, and they didn't have long. 'Okay,' Bagsy relented, Mezrielda's mouth twitching up in victory. 'But!' she added. 'We're only going a few paces in, just enough to cover the clouds and lighting as they go up into the sky. I happen to have just the place in mind...'
'Oh?'
'When I found more zout for Winifred and Robin's phoenix quelling potion, it was from some weeping weeds I saw in the forbidden forest. They were only a few metres beyond the tree line. The path in is obvious, and the path out is too. We can't get lost, and we can easily escape should we need to.'
'It's settled then.' Mezrielda nodded, her eyes determined. Bagsy nodded also, nerves swirling in the pit of her stomach. She found it difficult to finish her breakfast after that.