Bagsy thought the second episode went swimmingly. She was back in her robe, Three having removed her make-up and costume, and was walking with a spring in her step to the exit.
Everything was perfectly fine.
As she entered the castle and looked at the familiar stonework, gothic arches, and patrolling ghosts floating through walls, a small set of claps rose around her. A group of Gryffindors were applauding her as she walked by.
'Best episode yet!' one of them called, rushing forwards with a notebook. 'Can you sign this? Please!'
'Sure.' Bagsy happily scrawled her name onto it and waving pleasantly at the on-watchers. She progressed, smiling kindly at the other students who either congratulated her on her amazing performance, asked for a premonition, or wanted something signed.
'Is Fang that good looking in person?' a small Ravenclaw asked.
Bagsy laughed. 'I'm sure you'd find him as charming in person as you do on the wizard wireless. But don't forget, now, he is still a vampire.'
The Ravenclaw nodded, star struck, before one of his friends pulled him away with a rolling of their eyes.
Without a care in the world, Bagsy sat down in the library near the entrance. She got out her Charms homework, filling out the worksheet animatedly. Ten minutes later, someone joined her.
'You had me worried!' Mezrielda growled, leaning over Bagsy who was merrily sat on a very comfy chair.
'Oh, hello, Mezrielda,' Bagsy greeted. 'What did you think of the episode?'
'What did I-? It was awful!'
'Oh, that's a shame. I had hoped you would have enjoyed it.'
'Enjoyed it? Bagsy, what are you on about?'
There was a long pause as Bagsy looked up at Mezrielda.
'Bagsy, you're not acting normally,' Mezrielda said slowly, moving back and holding her hands anxiously in front of herself.
'No, I'm not,' Bagsy realised, feeling as though she'd been trying to force a buckle closed and it had only just popped through correctly. 'I feel weird.' She furrowed her brown and rubbing a hand against her head. The weirdest thing was that her robes weren't sitting right on her shoulder, as if something was catching against her back.
'Why are you sitting here?' Mezrielda asked, gesturing to the library nook that was far on the other side of the room.
She looked up, past the towering walls made entirely of books and past the floating tomes. She saw, at the other end of the library, the bookshelf that hid their nook.
Why wasn't she sitting over there?
'I don't know,' Bagsy said, packing her stuff away before moving towards their spot. Mezrielda followed in concerned silence.
Settling in the nook, worry finally washed over Bagsy as the numbness that had desensitised her mind faded. 'I found some stuff,' she said urgently as Mezrielda sat down opposite her, regarding her as if she were a ticking time-bomb.
'What did you find?'
Bagsy pulled her jumper down to look at her left shoulder and let out a relieved sigh. Three had left the plaster in place. She carefully peeled it off.
'Pleasant,' Mezrielda intoned sarcastically.
Bagsy pulled the piece of paper she'd retrieved out. 'I made it into the whispering room.'
Mezrielda's eyes widened. 'You did it, then? You cast a spell? That's... astounding. You should be proud.'
Bagsy grimaced. 'I think I may have permanently damaged my arm, but yes–' She faltered, looking at her right arm. A deep frown creased her face.
'What?'
'My arm is fine. That's odd... it was in agony before, but now it's completely healed.' She flexed her hand, then each finger, just to check.
'Injured? How? Are you sure?'
'Yeah – something went wrong when I tried to cast the spell and it felt like a big spikey ball was pulled through the insides of my flesh. It was awful. But now...' She put the paper on the table and held her right arm in front of her, wriggling her fingers some more. 'Not a scratch.'
'What's that?' Mezrielda picking the paper up. 'An ink blot?'
'It wasn't at first. There were these wisps of smoke and they made the writing all smudged. I didn't get a chance to read it.'
'Wisps?'
Bagsy recounted everything she'd seen.
Mezrielda put the paper down, pressing her fingers heavily onto it as she closed her eyes. 'He's with them, then,' she said. 'The breathing blight. If what you saw were contracts then my best guess is he's working in the acting troupe.'
Bagsy wasn't convinced. 'I don't know,' she said. 'I'm starting to think the breathing blight isn't in the acting troupe.'
Mezrielda's eyes snapped onto Bagsy. 'Excuse me?'
'Just because he has a contract with them doesn't mean he's working with then. And we don't know for sure that the living pestilence is the same person as the breathing blight.'
'I'm certain.'
'I just don't think the acting troupe would have someone unsafe like that with them. They're too sensible. Too nice.'
Mezrielda's jaw clenched. 'Bagsy, is everything alright?'
'Of course. Everything's perfectly fine.'
Regarding her sceptically, Mezrielda pushed the paper back to her. 'What do we do with this?' She tapped where the smudge was.
Bagsy inspected it closely. An idea sparked in her mind. 'I might be able to restore it. But it's going to take a while.'
'Do you think you could do it before the next episode?'
'I don't know.'
'Either way, you should tell them you're quitting.'
'What? Why?'
'We've gotten the confirmation we need. The breathing blight is with the acting troupe. Somehow, he must have snuck out and murdered during one of the episodes airing.'
'But now we need to know which one of them is the breathing blight,' Bagsy said. 'Besides, there's more information in that room I didn't get to see. If I quit now, I'll never find out what it's hiding.'
'I really can't convince you to quit, can I?'
'Nope.' Bagsy smiled at her friend cheekily. 'You can't.'
Mezrielda sighed. Then, as if noticing a cold breeze, glanced around herself uncertainly. 'I better leave.'
'What? Why?' she asked, before noticing that, by no exaggeration, every single student in the library was either glaring at Mezrielda or whispering to their friends while pointing at her. 'What's that all about?'
'The episode, of course,' Mezrielda said in a low voice, shooting some glares back at the onlookers. 'I was waiting for you at the entrance, but you hadn't waited there for me. I had to dodge spells and insults as I tried to find you.'
Suddenly remembering that she had agreed to meet Mezrielda by the entrance, guilt washed over her. 'I'm so sorry!'
'It's alright, but I think I'm going to hide in the Eagle Club room.' She stood. 'Even in here I worry that someone will try something.'
'But this last episode was so good?' Bagsy said. It had been so well written, with naturally developing romance and drama as the vampires struggled with their innate nature. Plus, it had featured the horrific face-changer villains, who Bagsy couldn't imagine failing to scare anyone, especially since they echoed real life doppelgangers, who were nasty things indeed.
Mezrielda looked at Bagsy silently, her face pinched into a pained expression. 'You really thought so?'
'Yeah! Especially that cliff-hanger ending,' she said, referencing Fang giving into his blood-thirsty nature.
Mezrielda curtly nodded at the paper. 'Good luck with that,' she said, looking Bagsy up and down and quickly leaving. Every head in the room tracked her as she left. Reaching the door Mezrielda paused and scowled back at the lot of them. 'What?' she asked in loud annoyance, baring her teeth.
The students turned their heads away as if their homework was suddenly very interesting.
To the young librarian's dissatisfaction, Mezrielda slammed the door on her way out.
Bagsy spent the evening working in her private room. She fished out the mushy receipt she'd found while visiting Tod's house. She been consistently working on it until Tod had published that article about Mezrielda and vampires. Now, though, she was continuing her work on it for another reason.
By the end of the following week, with the Hufflepuff match awaiting her the next day, Bagsy made a breakthrough, restoring one of her test papers that she put in the restoring solution she'd developed.
'Yes!' she cheered, throwing her hands into the air before testing the solution a few more times. Each test paper that she damaged and put into the solution returned to normal after a few minutes. Excitedly, she created two petri dishes from some metal she hammered into shape using the foldable forge. Next, she filled them to the rim with the restoration solution. Finally, she placed the scrap of paper she'd found from the whispering room in the acting troupe's tent into one and, her curiosity beating her anger at Tod, put the mushy receipt into the other. She stood over them, waiting for them to be restored, only to be disappointed when nothing happened.
She'd expected this; the papers seemed to restore in the same amount of time since they'd been destroyed. The longer ago she'd torn or smudged a paper, and the worse it was damaged, the longer it took to reform. She imaged these two scraps of paper could take the better part of two months, or even longer.
She set the two dishes somewhere safe where they wouldn't be disturbed, and then called in for the night. It was important to get a good night's sleep so she'd decided, for most nights that week, not to stay up late and practise spells.
The next morning Bagsy enjoyed a very filling meal while Mezrielda watched her. 'Something wrong?' she asked, being sure to swallow her food before talking.
'Terrific,' Mezrielda responded dryly. 'Where have the bags below your eyes gone?'
'Huh?'
'The bags below your eyes are gone.'
'Oh, that. I've started going to bed at a reasonable time. Guess all I needed was some beauty sleep!'
'You didn't need beauty sleep,' Mezrielda said, eyes fixed calmly on Bagsy. The next second, she startled, her eyes widening like dinner plates. 'I meant to say that it's very good you're getting more rest.'
Bagsy nodded, not understanding her friend's concern. 'Sure is. It's also better to sleep instead of watching and waiting for the restoration substance to work,' she added, quickly going over the set-up in her private room. 'Every time I duck behind the chair and push the door open I hope they'll be done, but they won't be. It'll be a long time yet until they're restored.'
Mezrielda stiffened. 'Repeat that to me, but very quietly.'
'That it will be a long time?'
'No. The bit about the armchair.'
'Oh, I was just explaining how I have to duck behind the armchair and the ferns to go through the hidden door into my private room.'
There was a moment of silence.
'Bagsy,' Mezrielda said gently. 'I think Blythurst has died.'
For a second, Bagsy's heart dropped. Then, she said, 'He can't have. He's at the hospital. How would you know?'
'Because you're now a secret keeper for your room, Bagsy. You can tell me where it is. You'd only be able to do that if you were the secret keeper, which can only be the case if the previous secret keeper was... was dead.'
Slowly, with mounting misery, Bagsy turned her eyes to her food, and realised Mezrielda was right. 'He's dead?' she said, feeling tears form in her eyes. Mezrielda placed an arm around her shoulder comfortingly while Bagsy processed this.
Soon, Bagsy was walking down to the quidditch pitch, checking she had all her gear, and trying not to think about Blythurst and his apparent death, feeling in a daze. Every step was a numb sensation of force on her legs that she barely noticed.
'Good luck,' Mezrielda told her, her voice heavy. Clearly, she was also disturbed by the idea that Blythurst had died. 'I'm sad to tell you that I won't be watching this match...'
'What? Why not?'
Mezrielda looked around herself nervously. 'It's difficult to be in crowded places right now. The great hall is only safe because so many professors are nearby. The quidditch stands are far larger. It wouldn't be hard for someone to cause trouble without a professor noticing.'
'Mezrielda,' Bagsy breathed sadly, then, brow furrowing in determination. 'No! You will watch this match! I'll convince the team to let you watch from the team tent. No one will know you're even there, and no one would dare go into the team tent to disturb you even if they did notice.'
Casting her an uncertain look, Mezrielda hesitated. 'Are you sure the Hufflepuff team will be alright with that?'
'I'll make them if I have to,' Bagsy said, though she was one hundred percent banking on the team agreeing with her anyway. She knew she didn't have the spine to stand up to them if they didn't, but there was no way she was going to let Mezrielda skulk somewhere alone after they'd just realised Blythurst had died.
Thankfully, Kat seemed fine with the idea. 'I think that's a smart plan,' she said.
Teresa nodded, thumping Mezrielda on the back in what Bagsy guessed was meant to be a friendly gesture. 'I know you're alright, Mezrielda,' Teresa told her. 'Ignore all those idiots. They're a bunch of sheeple and they're not worth your time.' It took Bagsy a second to realise that Teresa had already learnt, the hard way, that Mezrielda wasn't the villain she seemed to be.
Mezrielda nodded gratefully at Teresa. 'What you said in Care for Magical Creatures was appreciated,' she responded in a low, and embarrassed, voice. It sounded very much like a thank you.
'Of course,' Teresa responded. 'Vampires are nothing like walruses, and to compare them is insulting to both vampires and walruses! And my ears!' Her voice took on a dark tone. 'Honestly, anyone who believes any of this garbage about magical beings deserves to be burned.'
'Team,' Kat called them to attention. 'We're against Slytherin today. They're a lot stronger than Ravenclaw so I'll need you all to bring your best performances. And, Primrose?'
Primrose, who was sharpening her claws against her broom, to a grimace from Bagsy, looked with annoyed eyes at Kat. 'What?'
'No home goals, please?'
'No promises.'
The match began more quickly than Bagsy was prepared for, and as the game dragged on she found her limbs moving slower than usual, and her co-ordination feeling very off. She missed almost every single bludger she hit, and even accidentally struck Kat, Jon and Primrose with them.
Kat would shrug it off and tell Bagsy to not worry and stay focussed, Jon would look annoyed and complain about how this wouldn't be happening if he'd been made captain, and Primrose would simply grab the bludger out of the air and hurl it back at Bagsy with an angry roar.
Despite Kat's plea, Primrose's many goals were at least half into their own hoops, much to the crowd's amusement. Primrose seemed to be having a whale of a time, being the terror of the pitch as she rocketed about, brandishing her weaponized hands as she went.
It all moved by Bagsy in a blur, as her mind struggled to focus on what she was meant to be doing. She figured it was the news about Blythurst, but part of her wondered if there was something else slowing her mind.
At some point, Greenda darted down like a diving gannet towards the snitch and Emmeline called to pull off their finishing move. Bagsy's mind felt as if it was thinking through cement it took her so long to realise what she needed to do.
Emmeline was tossing a bludger at Bagsy to hit, who was drawing her bat back. Except, when she swung her arm to hit it she found her hand empty.
Primrose, who'd just shoulder barged Wren Zouch from the Slytherin team and was looking murderous at the fact he hadn't fallen off, had grabbed Bagsy's bat from her hand and was now using it to chase after him.
The bludger fell uselessly, and while Emmeline was away from the hoops the Slytherins easily scored another four goals.
'What a shambles!' Magnus cried out. 'Primrose is struggling to Prim-rise to the occasion!'
Groans from the crowd sounded, serenading the Slytherin seeker who zoomed past the confused Greenda, who'd been looking up at Emmeline and Bagsy in wonder as to why the bludger hadn't arrived to stun the snitch and help her catch it.
Deftly, the enemy seeker caught the snitch, and the game ended in a landslide victory for Slytherin.
Bagsy felt so dazed it took her a few minutes to realise why the players were beginning to descend. When Bagsy entered the tent, Mezrielda gave her an awkward, but overall comforting, pat on the back.
'It was an effort,' she offered.
'It was an effort,' she echoed, thoughts of Blythurst moving back to the forefront of her mind. She didn't want to believe he was dead, but Mezrielda's reasoning kept repeating itself in her thoughts.
For once, the argument following a loss wasn't between Greenda and Emmeline. Instead, Emmeline had pulled Primrose to the corner of the tent and was talking to her in hushed tones, a sympathetic and sad expression on her face.
Primrose retorted harshly, forked tongue flicking in and out of her toothy mouth. 'Stop trying to help me!' she burst out, enough to quiet the commiserating mumbles that had comfortingly sounded throughout the rest of the tent. The Hufflepuff team watched as Primrose marched from the tent, Emmeline following her.
'Wait,' Greenda said, setting off as well, pushing hurriedly through the tent flaps.
Kat breathed out through gritted teeth. 'Here we go.'
Bagsy quickly packed away her things, Mezrielda helping her, before walking into the cool spring evening, the smell of cut grass and bubbling frustration carrying on the breeze.
Primrose was already gone, but Emmeline and Greenda were standing nearby and glaring at each other.
'You tried,' Greenda was telling Emmeline. 'It's not working. You're only hurting yourself, and everyone else on the team. It's time to let it go. Not everyone can be helped, Emmeline. And, even if she can be helped, maybe she just needs a bit more space.'
'I know what it's like to be her, Gren,' Emmeline shot back. 'I thought I couldn't be helped but I was wrong. I thought I needed space but I was wrong.'
'You chose to be better,' Greenda argued. 'She's choosing to be worse!'
'I didn't choose anything! You made me better! If you hadn't been my friend I would've stayed lost, I would've had no idea who I was meant to be. Right now, Primrose is exactly as I was. She's scared, she's confused and she's never had a chance to consider herself as something other than what she's been told her whole life she is. She needs someone to help her determine her identity. She needs someone to save her like you saved me.'
Greenda was floored. 'Is that how you felt? Like I made you better? Like you weren't your own person?'
'Yes!' Emmeline's face was red. 'How do you not get this yet? I spent my whole life being told who I was and then suddenly it was ripped out from under me and I was left with nothing. I had no idea who I was – I felt like an empty shell! But then I met you and you're so full of facts and anecdotes and knowledge and stories and you filled me up with everything you told me.'
'I thought you hated how much I talked... almost everyone does...'
'I loved it, Greenda. You were my best friend.'
Bagsy and Mezrielda shared a look. By now the other players had joined them. Thankfully, they were on the other side of the pitch from the direction of the castle, so none of the spectators had caught wind of the drama going on.
Kat waved at everyone, herding them away. 'Let's give them some space, people,' she said, to not much avail. As she tried to move them, they'd all crane their necks and strain their ears to listen in.
'I can still be your best friend,' Greenda tried.
Emmeline shook her head, looking almost disgusted by the suggestion. 'No. Not after what you did.'
'I know I shouldn't have told anyone about it – it wasn't my place to and it was unfair–'
'That's not why!' Emmeline yelled, her voice incredibly loud. It didn't matter how quickly Bagsy and Mezrielda tried to move away, every word carried crystal clear to their ears. 'I don't care if people know about that! A secret never stays a secret!' Emmeline dragged in a harsh breath.
Kat was so stunned at the outburst she'd forgotten about leading everyone away. The rest of them, too, found themselves watching on in astonishment.
'I know why you gossip so much, Greenda! You're lonely and you constantly need to feel like you have friends and attention. But I was your friend, and I gave you all the attention I had. You were my whole world when I first came to Hogwarts. Kat wasn't here yet, and I had no one other friends, no one else to help show me who I was! And then you found out some juicy gossip about me, and you went and told–' Emmeline choked, sounding like she was about to burst into sobs. 'You used what you found out about me to get attention and friendship from other people because, clearly, mine wasn't enough.'
'You're... you're not mad that I let other people find out about what happened?'
'I couldn't care less!' Emmeline cried. 'All that matters is that I wasn't enough! I'm never enough! Just being me is never enough! Not for Mrs Vinski, not for you, and now not for Primrose!'
That seemed to wake Kat from her shock. 'Seriously,' she said to Teresa, Jon, Bagsy and Mezrielda. 'It's not fair to listen in on this. Get going.' Spinning on her heels, Kat hurriedly walked back to Emmeline, whose face was now in her hands as she wept. Greenda watched her, eyes wide and stunned, arms hanging uselessly at her side.
Kat put her arm over Emmeline's shoulder to console her.
'Let's go,' Jon said. 'Kat's right.'
As a group, they turned and walked away.
As she turned to leave, Bagsy saw Greenda meekly reach a hand towards Emmeline.
'You've got it all wrong. You were more than enough, Em,' she said.
Bagsy didn't hear the rest of the conversation. She was too far away to. She reckoned that was for the best.
The walk back to the castle was painfully silent.
Bagsy was almost grateful for her lessons with Starrett moving forward; they were a great excuse to miss quidditch training. According to Teresa, Emmeline hadn't been showing up, either. Strangely, Primrose didn't seem to care if everyone else was tense. She enjoyed her terrorising of the pitch even more.
One breakfast the murmuring of the tired students hushed as they noticed Professor Fitzsimmons take a stand at the front of the great hall. Bagsy's eyes followed Fitzsimmons' movements, before turning questioningly to Mezrielda, who's sad expression indicated she, somehow, had already figured out what this was about.
As the students glanced at each other in confusion, Fitzsimmons said cleary, 'It is with deep regret that I must announce the passing of Professor Blythurst.' As conspiratorial whispers burst into life, Fitzsimmons' eyes flashed, and the students returned to quiet once more. 'At lunch today we will be holding a vigil on the Hogwarts grounds to commemorate his time here at Hogwarts, and his invaluable contributions.'
Mezrielda had been right. A weight of cold dread sunk onto Bagsy's shoulders like a boa constrictor.
When Bagsy attended the vigil, her expression subdued and movements sluggish, Stery pulled her aside to give her a slip offering her counselling provided by the school should she need it. As much as Bagsy appreciated the offer, as she watched different teachers speak about their time with Blythurst, offering anecdotes and praiseworthy stories, she decided to keep her own feeling to herself, pushed down as far as possible. Starrett seemed to have a similar idea, as her resolutely neutral expression was at stark contrast with the misery in her eyes.
Bagsy had a feeling Starrett and Blythurst had been good friends.
After the vigil, Bagsy holed herself up in her forge, hammering away on some new inventions, whilst Mezrielda sat silently in the corner, thinking to herself. They were in silent agreement not to talk about Professor Blythurst – at least not for now.
The last few weeks of term were an interesting one with the shadow of the recent passing of Blythurst hanging over them. Bagsy hadn't received any more invitations to visit the acting troupe's tent, so there weren't many opportunities to figure out who the breathing blight was. Not only that, but the restoration of the paper was taking an age, and the smudge upon it still wasn't legible even if it was improved.
After the second episode had aired, though, the attention Bagsy had been suffering, and the notoriety Mezrielda had been enduring, doubled. There was a vampire frenzy in the school. On the one hand, so many students were horrified of the idea that a vampire could be walking amongst them. On the other, they were delighted to bother Bagsy, the resident star, about her vampire-born fame.
In the midst of Professor Blythurst dying, Bagsy couldn't have cared less about it all.
The frenzy was made worse when, a week before the Easter Holidays, an explosion of pink dust erupted in the great hall during breakfast. Pieces of paper cut into the shape of fanged teeth fluttered down to each student, personally inviting them to the Vampire Ball – a celebratory event to happen two nights before episode three, the final episode of the first season, was to air. What's more, it would be hosted by the acting troupe, but not in their tent. Instead, every student had been invited up to their castle of clouds.
If Bagsy was fed up with the other students pestering her despite what had happened, she certainly wasn't in the mood for a ball.
'A castle of clouds?' Bagsy read in confusion, looking over the Vampire Ball invitation. Mezrielda was already getting out of her seat – at breakfast they'd grab their food before hiding in the Eagle Club room, which was currently the only place besides the foldable forge where they were able to avoid the effects of their fame and infamy.
'I saw an article about it in today's paper,' said Mezrielda, pulling Bagsy after her as the Hufflepuff took a bite of a croissant. 'We can read about it once we're away from everyone else.'
'True,' Bagsy managed around a mouthful of food, before holding back a yawn.
Mezrielda glanced back at her, letting go as they exited the hall. 'The bags below your eyes are back.'
'Oh, yeah. I stayed up all night working.' It was hard to sleep with the weird feeling of knowing Blythurst had died sitting in the back of her mind. Even with his passing, the rest of Hogwarts continued as normal, Stery taking over as the full-time Potions professor. It was disconcerting.
'What happened to getting a better sleep schedule?'
Bagsy shrugged. 'To be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure what came over me. I'm not an early bird – I'm a night owl – I might as well embrace it.'
'Good. It's nice to know you're more yourself, again. What were you working on?'
'A few things. Restoration of the paper, spell practise, and...' She paused awkwardly. 'I've been working on something I'm calling magic insulation.'
They turned a corner, walked down some stairs and pushed past the tapestry that hid the passage to the Eagle Club room.
Mezrielda asked, 'What does that do?'
'Hopefully it will insulate the object it surrounds from the general magic interference in the air.' Bagsy fished out her torch and the few prototype scraps of material she'd been working on.
Mezrielda looked at her blankly.
'It'll make muggle stuff work around magic,' Bagsy simplified, pulling one of her prototype sheets around her muggle torch and turning it on. The beam flickered, but less than before.
'That's genius. How do you figure these things out?'
'A lot of trial and error,' Bagsy joked.
Mezrielda smirked. 'That would make sense, given you yourself are a trial and an error.'
'Hey!' Bagsy squealed in mock offense, throwing one of the scraps of material at Mezrielda, who ducked with a snide grin before settling down at the edge of the circular room and fishing out some ornaments. 'Do you have the foldable forge on you?'
'Of course.' Bagsy tossed it onto the floor and activated it. Pleased, Mezrielda hopped into the darkness to work on her shiny trinkets.
For a second, Bagsy allowed herself to think about Blythurst. He'd been a hands-off teacher but she had been telling the truth back in Hogsmeade. Without his help in making the tangle teasing solution she never would have made friends with Mezrielda.
'Thank you,' Bagsy said into the empty room, but the words were for Professor Blythurst, wherever he was.