Mezrielda didn't recover her memories of the thorned gauntlet the next day, or the day after that, and Bagsy's stomach was in constant knots of worry. She'd already sent a letter off to her sister begging for her to send the instructions for the curing potion, what she'd called the draught of silver cleanse. Mezrielda had to remember the gauntlet. Bagsy couldn't find it alone.

It was only when Bontie's reply letter arrived and Bagsy, realising it was written in code, figured out the instructions to the potion did she pause. Mezrielda had forgotten all about the gauntlet but Bagsy still had all the information.

Bagsy took out her note book and read the two riddles aloud. 'Don't go looking unless you must, where water moves and makes rust. Words shall guide you to the steps, then bring the gauntlet and pass the test.' That was the gauntlet riddle, a clue to where the gauntlet the wishing fairy had trapped the girl in was, that she now knew the full version of thanks to Tod's revelation. If Bagsy could figure out the riddle she could find the gauntlet. Mezrielda had already decided that 'where water moves and makes rust' must have been in the toilet, but what steps were the riddle referring to? Bagsy read the second riddle. 'My doors will open if you grieve, laugh with me and you may leave. Bring me what seems ordinary, to transform it back to glory.' She sat and scrunched up her face, thinking. She couldn't draw any new conclusions, so instead she added to her notebook what information she'd heard Tod say, the same information that Mezrielda had been forced to forget.

Tod thought the gauntlet was in the Owlery, and also believed the endless staircase was the place spoken of in the riddle. Bagsy frowned again, but her features slowly relaxed as she realised how much sense it all made. Tod had been trying to take bricks out of the wall while he was in the Owlery, the place he'd believed the gauntlet was. Perhaps the gauntlet was hidden in the walls, then. If Bagsy wanted to get the gauntlet she'd have to visit the Owlery and find it there. Tod also thought the endless staircase was spoken of in one of the riddles. This one was easy to see – 'the steps' in the gauntlet riddle must be referring to the endless staircase. Bagsy concluded she needed to take the gauntlet from the Owlery to the endless staircase, pass a test, transform something ordinary back to glory, and get her hands on the gauntlet. A simple, four-step plan.

At this conclusion she paused again, wondering if she could complete the task on her own. Was she seriously considering taking the gauntlet for herself? Aside from being impossible, like Bagsy could pass a test or transform anything, it was a horrid thing to do. Mezrielda had known about the gauntlet before her. She'd been searching longer and had found the myth of the gauntlet by using her family's library, Bagsy had been lucky enough for Mezrielda to share her knowledge with her.

Could Bagsy really do this?

She hadn't reached an answer, but her feet were taking her to the Owlery without her realising. She wrapped herself in her warm cloak and huddled inside it against the harsh, cold wind, the weather seeming to fight her every step – even the skies didn't want her to betray Mezrielda.

Bagsy entered the Owlery, the floor filled with large piles of straw. The owl droppings, remains of mice and voles had only grown in number since her last visit. She poked about, crouching down and peering at the bricks, standing on tip toes and peeping into the hollows along the walls, Owls hooting indignantly as she disturbed them. Despite her efforts, she couldn't find any mystical gauntlet.

Bagsy heard steps.

Someone was approaching the Owlery.

Bagsy looked around quickly – if the person approaching was Tod her search for the gauntlet could end right here, her memories sucked away. She found a particularly large pile of hay, a mixture of straw, droppings and bones, and stood still, listening to the steps getting closer. If Tod made her forget the gauntlet, would Bagsy forget all the time she'd spent searching for it with Mezrielda, too? Her heart stalled in horror at the thought.

Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she threw herself into the pile of straw, digging down deep until there was only darkness and the foul smell of owl excrement. Whoever it was entered the Owlery and Bagsy felt surer of her decision to hide when the individual walked around the entire area many times, their pace slow. No person sending a letter would have need to stay so long or trace the perimeter.

After what felt like an hour, the person let out a frustrated sigh and left. Bagsy shot to her feet, kicking and clawing the hay away as she gulped in air not stagnant with small, dead animals whilst her muscles tingled at moving after so long being still in a cramped position. Her robes were disgusting, and she imagined she didn't smell much better, but when she peered out of the Owlery and saw the black and green robes of a Slytherin boy on the steps leading back to Hogwarts, she felt no regrets.

Bagsy rushed back to her room, quickly bathed, and changed into some clean clothes, then started brewing the memory potion her sister had sent to her. She didn't pay much thought as to why Bontie had sent it in code. Bontie was a paranoid person, she reasoned, leaving it at that.

When Bagsy realised that there were some ingredients she needed that she didn't have, jobberknoll feathers, for one, not to mention zout, nettle stem and elephant-tree hair, she decided to pay the teacher's staffroom a visit.

A young, goateed face wearing large square glasses looked down at her when the door opened.

'Professor Wattleseed,' Bagsy greeted him politely. 'Is Professor Blythurst here?'

'Yes,' Wattleseed said. 'I'll go and get him, one second Bagsy.'

Bagsy rocked back and forwards on her feet impatiently.

'What. Now?' Bagsy heard Blythurst ask.

'Yes,' Wattleseed responded.

'I'm reading,' Blythurst said. 'Tell her it can wait until Friday.'

Wattleseed returned and smiled sympathetically down at Bagsy. 'I'm sorry but he's busy right now. Why don't you ask him on Friday?'

'I just need some ingredients for a potion I want to make-'

'What potion?' Blythurst called from inside the staffroom. Wattleseed let out a breath, standing back and pulling the door wide open so Bagsy could see Blythurst sitting on an armchair almost as big as he was. The large, uneven man was bathed in the warm light of a fireplace as he read, and he didn't bother turning to look at her.

Bagsy had a sudden sense she shouldn't tell Blythurst the truth. She didn't want to have to explain any of what had happened, and the fact Bontie had sent the recipe in code had spread some paranoia to her as well. 'More tangle-teasing solution, professor,' she lied.

Blythurst was silent.

Bagsy looked at Wattleseed helplessly, who shrugged and then rolled his finger in a circle next to his head, implying Blythurst was unhinged, and Bagsy held back a chuckle.

'Take what you need,' Blythurst said at last. Permission granted, she thanked him and hurried off to the potions store cupboard. Once she had all she needed she returned to her private room and set to work.

It was an incredibly difficult to brew and, for once, Bagsy felt challenged by a potion. The potion called for the ingredients to be added at strict times, the elephant-tree hair had to go in no more and no less than thirty point two seconds after the jobberknoll feathers, but it also had to be cut into small pieces immediately before being added – cut up elephant-tree hair could not be left to sit. The rest of the potion followed similar difficulties.

Bagsy was a whirlwind of action. She struggled with every step and by the end she was sweaty, her hair was puffed up around her head like a brown halo, and she wished she really had been making tangle-teasing solution.

The draught of silver cleanse, as her sister had called it, sat in front of her in its bright pink glory and Bagsy stoppered the contents in a vial before laying down on her bed, exhausted.

It was Sunday evening, and Bagsy had spent the weekend locked in her room. She could take the draught of silver cleanse to Mezrielda at any moment, but she was putting of the decision as long as possible, instead completing all her homework, including the extra exercises Professor Starrett had given her. The wand motions were repetitive and boring, as was practising the incantations, but Bagsy was determined to complete them, and perform extra, until she finally cast a spell.

Alongside her work, Bagsy was slowly improving the school brooms she'd been working on. They were so old and outdated it felt like forcing a square into a circle shaped hole trying to add new parts to them. As Bagsy carefully whittled the wood, and read through Brooms and Their Workings, she began making good progress so that when, that Sunday evening, she heard Ford Krinkle asking after her, she decided to show him her progress. It was something to put her mind off of Mezrielda and the gauntlet, at least.

'What do you mean, she doesn't sleep in the first-year girls' dorm?' Ford was saying in confusion. 'She's a first-year girl!'

'I'm sorry,' a small and timid voice responded with a sniff. 'We call her the missing Hufflepuff, you see, because she's always missing…'

'How can she be missing? She has to sleep sometime-' Ford cut off as Bagsy stepped out from behind the armchair and ferns her bedroom door hid behind. His eyes seemed to pass over her until she stood to her full height and they latched onto the brooms clasped in her arms.

'Oh, there she is,' the timid voice said again. Bagsy spotted Neve, the small girl with dark skin and boy-short, curly hair.

'I can see that,' Ford said in amusement. Bagsy awkwardly walked over to Ford, struggling to keep the brooms in her grasp. 'Let's see, then.' Ford's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. Bagsy laid the brooms on the floor and stood back, letting Ford take a look. 'Brilliant…' he whispered. 'Fantastic!' He kept muttering happily to himself as he turned the brooms over. 'These will do just fine, Bagsy,' Ford said at last.

Bagsy let out an internal sigh of relief. 'Are you sure? I could always do a bit more-'

'No need,' he cut her off. 'These are perfect as they are.' He tilted the brooms in his hand one by one, checking their handling. 'Magnificent. They don't pull to the left at all. And just in time, too. Our match against Ravenclaw is next week.' Ford looked around himself, trying to find someone. When he couldn't see who he was looking for, he called out. 'Emmeline! Kat! Get over here.'

One of the round doors leading to the older girls' dorms opened after a pause and Emmeline, beautiful blonde hair curled to perfection, and her American friend, Kat, walked into the room.

'Here, take one each,' Ford said, handing them brooms to match their height. Emmeline hopped on hers straight away and hovered for a second or two, nodding in approval, Kat doing the same before they both landed.

'What are these?' Emmeline asked in confusion, looking the broom over as Bagsy felt a feeling of indignation twist in her stomach. She didn't want Emmeline using the brooms she'd upgraded, even if she was on the Hufflepuff team.

'Bagsy upgraded the school brooms,' Ford announced, patting her solidly on the shoulder. Bagsy startled and shrunk shyly in on herself. Neve shot her a sympathetic look and Bagsy instantly knewthe other girl understood what being shy felt like.

Emmeline cast a disdainful look over her. 'I suppose they'll do,' she said coldly.

Kat, on the other hand, couldn't hold back a smile. 'That's amazing!' she said. 'Thanks, Bagsy. I was getting really frustrated by the school brooms.'

'Sure thing,' Bagsy murmured, looking down at her feet. She hid herself back in her room before Ford could get the entire Hufflepuff team to gawk at her like some kind of circus animal.

'Where did she get to?' Ford's puzzled voice carried to Bagsy once she was safely sat at her work bench in her room.

'I told you,' came Neve's small voice. 'She's the missing Hufflepuff. She just… vanishes.'

Her work with the brooms finished, for now, and her search for the gauntlet halted, for now, Bagsy spent the rest of her time working hard on her studies. She stood, back straight, arm stiff, casting incantations and enchantments into the twilight hours every night. She even asked Greenda to tell her all the techniques she'd learnt in her four years at Hogwarts but, despite her efforts, Bagsy still couldn't cast a single spell. At least with every inch of effort she put into learning magic, she didn't have to think about whether or not she wanted the gauntlet for herself.

Bagsy was also grateful, in a strange way, for the sudden increase in the unpleasant dreams she'd been experiencing. She would spin around, trying to find the eyes she could feel watching her, but she'd only catch glimpses of something white before it was gone, and her memories of even those brief sightings were foggy when she awoke. When she was feeling tired from the resulting lack of sleep, or worried about her dreams, and when they would stop, she wasn't feeling guilty about the gauntlet. It was a strange relief, almost as if she felt less guilty knowing she was, in some ways, suffering for her actions.

Bagsy realised, when the week's lessons were finished, and the following Saturday arrived, the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw match that day, that she'd procrastinated her decision on the gauntlet for a whole seven days.

Finding a space to sit in the Hufflepuff stands, the match about to start, Bagsy wondered if Mezrielda was over in the Slytherin stands, oblivious to all the time they'd spent together trying to figure out where the gauntlet was. Despite the distance, Bagsy's eyes somehow easily found Mezrielda sitting in a stand on the other side of the pitch, surrounded by the green and silver of her house colours. Her stomach sank in guilt – she'd yet to talk to Mezrielda again, let alone give her the draught of silver cleanse that would return her memories to her.

Pushing Mezrielda from her mind – and trusting that Tod was as hopeless at finding the gauntlet in the owlery as she was – she focussed on the match.

Bagsy watched the Hufflepuffs ascend into the air, her eyes fixing on the yellow streak that was Greenda. She soared above the rest, circling and watching out for the golden snitch, and Bagsy remembered glumly how poorly Hufflepuff had played against Gryffindor the previous term, crossing her fingers.

The Ravenclaws didn't hold back. Blue blurs zoomed around the pitch, hitting bludgers at the Hufflepuff chasers who barely dodged in time, and Bagsy frowned as she tried to remember everything Greenda had told her. Emmeline was the team's keeper, she remembered easily, as she could see her curled blonde hair in a high ponytail swish this way and that as she tried to keep the quaffle out of the hoops. She wasn't doing a very good job.

Ford and Kat were two of the team's chasers and Bagsy could see them easily passing the quaffle back and forth. Ford ducked down as a Ravenclaw struck a bludger right next to his head. Had he not predicted the move Bagsy feared he'd have lost an ear.

Swooping down, Ford chucked the quaffle behind his back without looking. Bagsy wondered if he'd meant to do that, but when Kat suddenly darted forward and took possession, using the manoeuvre to get past the Ravenclaw chasers, and score a goal to the surprise of the unsuspecting keeper, Bagsy realised what a genius, and trusting, decision it had been.

'Hufflepuff taking their time with their goals, as usual,' Magnus Alden, the Gryffindor commentator and Tod's older brother, said. 'Famous for warming up slowly – the Hufflepuff team have set a new personal best by scoring at all!' he added, to laughter from the crowd. Bagsy puffed out her cheeks indignantly. Professor Jones, who was standing on a box next to Magnus to match the tall student's height, reprimanded him. Bagsy saw Magnus apologise, with little sincerity, before continuing to bad mouth the Hufflepuff team over the megaphone.

Bagsy looked at the score board. Ravenclaw had already scored five goals. Hufflepuff only one, and she turned back to the game, her heart beating faster. Her brooms didn't seem to be making much of a difference, even if the Hufflepuffs were flying with much more precision than their last game.

'And that's the game!' Magnus suddenly called out. Bagsy sighed in disappointment, seeing the Ravenclaw seeker waving the snitch, clasped tightly in their hands, over their head as they did a lap above the applauding crowd.

'Every time…' Bagsy heard someone mutter in anger behind her. 'I don't think our seeker has ever caught the snitch.'

'Better seeker wins,' another voice agreed, this one with a lisp.

Bagsy didn't know why, but she found herself turning around, already regretting what she was about to say. 'I'm sure they're trying their best,' she declared more bravely than she'd ever before. 'That's all that matters-' she cut off, her tongue catching in her throat, at the sight of the Emmeline-look-a-like who she'd seen around the Hufflepuff dormitory, and who had mocked her last term.

The girl, who was small with a pointed nose and pretty blonde curls, fixed Bagsy with a harsh stare. 'Such a shame Greenda's best is so pathetic. I bet even I could be a better seeker.'

Bagsy wanted to tell the girl to prove it, but her words died in her throat.

'You've upgraded from a stutter to not speaking at all.' The girl smirked. 'I think we can all agree it's a great improvement.' She took out her wand and pointed it at Bagsy who tensed, feeling more nervous than when she'd been watching the match. 'Ha! Look. So easily scared.'

'Don't take your wand out if you don't intend to use it,' someone said. Bagsy turned and saw a tall and pale skinned girl rise from her seat.

'Shut up, Teresa,' the Emmeline-look-alike spat. Bagsy noticed Neve was sitting behind the tall girl named Teresa. In fact, she was cowering behind her.

'Make me,' Teresa retorted. She had bright ginger hair tied in a tight pony tail, and a face covered in freckles. The Emmeline-look-alike froze. 'Well, Primrose?' Teresa asked. Bagsy took a mental note that the Emmeline-look-alike was called Primrose.

Primrose put her wand away and sat back down with a frustrated flick of her blonde hair. 'Like you're worth my time,' Primrose said. Bagsy shot a thankful look to Teresa and Neve, who both beamed back at her, making her briefly regret not using the bed reserved for her in the Hufflepuff dormitory. Teresa and Neve looked like they'd make good friends and dorm mates.

Weighed down by the Hufflepuff loss and the confrontation with Primrose, unsure if she wanted to pursue the gauntlet on her own or with Mezrielda, and feeling incredibly lonely, Bagsy trudged back to the castle. She spotted the Quidditch team walking ahead of her, where Emmeline and Kat were having a heated discussion with Greenda, who looked defensive and upset. Ford, walking at the front, was ignoring them.

Bagsy wondered if he was mad at her for making brooms that weren't good enough for a win.