A green mist dispersed around Mezrielda, thinning into nothingness as it travelled. Startled, Mezrielda took a step backwards, her expression wide and surprised, and then took another, and then another.

Mortem casually strolled towards her. 'Not so confident now, are we?'

Bagsy looked at Mezrielda in concern – why had she stopped casting spells? Why wasn't she doing anything?

Mezrielda looked up at Mortem as he reached her, looming over her. Bagsy pushed up from the ground, but her limbs were all wrong, and she flopped back to the side, before trying again to scramble to her feet.

'Why don't you help your friend?' Mortem suggested, turning and gesturing at Bagsy's pathetic attempts. 'I'm sure you know a counter curse. I cast the reverse jinx, if that helps. You must remember that one, surely?' Mezrielda's eyes flew wide as dinner plates, her mouth hanging open in horror at something Bagsy didn't understand. 'No?' Mortem tutted. 'You don't recall? Let's try another one. How about the shield charm? Good for stopping spells. You must know it?' Mezrielda's red face had turned so pale it matched the walls of the room. Clamping her mouth shut and taking a step backwards, Mezrielda pointed a shaking wand at Mortem, who smirked, holding his arms wide. 'Do your worst.'

Mezrielda did nothing.

Bagsy looked on in confusion. 'Cast something!'

Mezrielda opened her mouth as if to speak an incantation, but no noise came forth.

Mortem shook his head sympathetically. 'What a shame,' he murmured, reaching out and slowly taking Mezrielda's white wand from her hand. She was so dumbfounded, so stunned beyond understanding, that she didn't resist. Mortem inspected the wand in his hands. 'Such a waste of talent.'

He snapped it in two.

Bagsy's heart sunk in dread, doom gripping at her limbs. What was going on? With a clatter, Mortem let the wand halves fall to the floor and drew his own again.

Winifred was starting to come to her senses. 'What's going on?' she slurred. 'Where am I?'

As if in answer, the rumbling that echoed throughout the ship suddenly gave out, leaving a horrifying silence. There was only the whistling of the wind outside and the creaking of the slowly collapsing structures.

Mortem spoke quickly. 'How unfortunate indeed. You snuck on board a Ministry ship, sabotaged it and then, magicless and panicked, were unable to escape and perished in the crash. I'm sure your parents will be devastated,' he said the last bit to Mezrielda, before glancing in Bagsy's direction with a sneer. 'Yours? I doubt they'll notice you're gone.' Bagsy wanted to say something, be she couldn't find the words. She simply watched; defeated. 'Regardless, it will be none of my concern,' he said, pointing his wand at Bagsy now that he seemed certain Mezrielda had been neutralised. 'But then again, why rob myself the satisfaction of finishing the job? It would be the rightful punishment for being so infuriatingly uncooperative, and no one will discover your bodies amongst the wreckage.'

'What is this old geezer on about?' Winifred managed to force out, sounding as if her mind was two minutes behind what was happening.

Mortem ignored her. 'Those gloves of yours seem to block spells, yes, Bagsyllia? I wonder if they can block the killing curse…' Bagsy's mouth turned dry. Mortem began moving towards her. 'In the words of your sister, shall we find out?'

Bagsy, laying on the floor like a fish out of water, could only look up at him in abject horror.

'No,' a voice cut in. 'Let's not.'

A hole exploded in one of the walls and stepping through the destruction, hair waving behind her as she walked swiftly towards Mr Mortem with her wand raised, was Rebontil Beetlehorn.

Bagsy's heart leapt. 'Bontie?'

Mortem's wand quickly retargeted itself at the new threat. 'How'd you get out?'

'The failsafe. All doors unlock upon an evacuation order,' Bontie responded calmly, taking the chaos of the room in as she spoke. 'It's standard protocol. Given you'd marry protocol if it was a woman half your age I thought you would have realised this?'

'I was pre-occupied,' Mortem shot back. 'Some idiots didn't put the inferno in the tree and they exploded the ship.'

'I suppose that's why we're no longer surrounded by the noise of the levitation engine?' Bontie asked. Mortem nodded grimly. 'I estimate we have a minute and a half before the ship falls. Help me apparate these children to safety and we can discuss whatever this is after we're all saved from certain death.'

'I think not,' Mortem retorted hotly. 'How about, instead, I leave you all to die for your disobedience?'

At this point, Bontie had glanced over to Mezrielda, who was staring at her snapped wand lying on the floor at her feet. Bontie frowned, as if she had already figured out what had happened. Bagsy, meanwhile, was recovering from the revelation that her sister wasn't dead.

Bontie said coolly, 'If you leave then I'll leave, also, and inform the Ministry of your plan to test the killing curse on my sister.'

Mortem scoffed. 'Don't be ridiculous. Your sister would die if you left her here. I've never heard a worse bluff.'

'Oh?' Bontie tilted her head as if explaining maths to a child. 'You think it's a bluff?' Bagsy felt as if a very cold hand had gripped her heart and was squeezing it. The feeling was joined by a sudden, and far more real, sensation of falling. Bontie said, 'We're running out of time. Help me get them off this ship.'

'Even if you aren't bluffing it's your word against mine,' Mortem rushed out. Clearly, he also sensed they didn't have long. 'And I could correctly claim that your sister and her friend broke the law and snuck onto a Ministry vessel.'

'I'll keep silent, and trust you'll do the same, if you help us off this ship,' Bontie affirmed, her wand still levelled at Mortem, who was equally pointing his own back. 'Be reasonable, Hagas.'

Mortem laughed at that. 'First names are suddenly acceptable now, are they, Bontie? Well, Bontie, how about this? I'll leave on my own and if you manage to get out alive we can call a truce of what occurred here, but, if you perish, I'll drag your deceased name through the dirt and back.' The ship jolted, tilting on its side. In the moment Bontie lowered her wand to catch herself, Mortem turned in place and, with a pop, disappeared.

Bontie cursed in anger. She pointed her wand at one of the walls quickly. 'Perludulus,' she cast, and the wall turned transparent. Bagsy gaped at the sight; the ship was leaning on its side and fast approaching the ground. The forbidden forest was rushing up to meet them far too quickly, it looked like they had moments to prepare.

Keeping an eye on the approaching ground, Bontie gestured at the clostra boab. 'Get in,' she instructed furiously. 'Get in right now!'

Mezrielda dumbly picked up her broken wand and stumbled, blank faced, towards the tree.

'Dooon't need to tell me twice,' Winifred murmured, her skin burning a hot red, causing the bindings around her to evaporate from the heat. Dragging her sister with her, Winifred made her way towards the boab.

Bontie pointed her wand at the tree and the square panel that composed its entrance swung open. 'I'm here,' Bontie said gently, just loud enough so Bagsy could hear, as she cast a lightening charm on her and swept her into her arms. 'I'm alive.'

'Mortem said–' Bagsy began, her voice choked.

'I know, I know,' Bontie reassured her, pressing her wand to Bagsy's temple and banishing the back-to-front curse Mortem had placed upon her, before putting her into the tree and helping Winifred get Robin inside too.

'Were you bluffing?'

'Of course, Bagsy, of course.' Bontie glanced out the transparent wall, at the approaching ground. 'Alright, against the walls, all of you,' she ordered. Winifred pressed herself against the side of the tree, holding Robin next to her with her arm. Mezrielda, placing her wand pieces into her robe with a shocked look still in her eyes, did the same.

Forcing her breathing to slow down so she wouldn't hyperventilate herself unconscious, Bagsy pressed against the side of the tree as well. She felt silly because, in that moment, it wasn't the height and falling that terrified her as much as the cramped, dark, slightly red space she found herself in. It felt like she was back in the throat of the blood eyed beast, surrounded by teeth and blood and screaming. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists as she felt her sister quickly apply magic to each of them. Bontie didn't explain what the magic was, or what was happening.

'I'll find you once you land,' Bontie explained hurriedly.

Bagsy's eyes shot open – her sister was closing the boab up, with them inside. 'What do you mean?' she asked, moving to reach for Bontie, but she was glued tightly to the walls of the insides of the tree, as if she were a fly in a spider's web. Her movements seemed slowed, as if she were surrounded by a mountain of soft cushions that refused to let her escape. 'Bontie!' she protested, but the tree closed, and they were plunged into darkness. She dimly heard a pop beyond the walls of the tree as her sister apparated away.

The next second, the world suddenly shifted as the ship impacted with the ground. In the darkness there was nothing but the harsh scrapes, clangs, and snaps of collision. Then, they were moving, spinning so fast Bagsy thought she may throw up. Winifred and Robin were opposite her, and Mezrielda next to her.

'What the hell is going ooooooon!' Winifred screamed in terror as they bounced along, hitting hard objects again and again. With each impact, Bagsy was harshly thrust one direction or another, only to find something cushioning her and pulling her back to the tree's walls. She had little doubt that, without whatever spells her sister had cast, they would have been killed on the impact.

Then, with a sharp crack, light spilled into the darkness, the tree splitting in two. Bagsy briefly saw Winifred and Robin, stuck to the other half of the tree, fly away as Mezrielda and Bagsy's half continued along.

The world continued to spin around them, a blurred painting of red fire, dark shadows and deep blue skies, until eventually, with slowing thuds and lessening momentum, the tree came to a rocking stop somewhere in the middle of the forbidden forest.

The sudden silence, lack of wind rushing past her eyes, and loss of assault of colours was overwhelming. The only thing Bagsy could hear was her own ragged breathing and Mezrielda's panicked breaths. Besides that, and the creaking of swaying trees, there was nothing.

After a long time of her skin feeling like it was crawling with bugs, Bagsy forced herself to sit up and look beyond the curved walls of the split boab that were shielding her from the rest of the forbidden forest.

Nothing but darkness and gaunt trees greeted her.

Bagsy ducked back down, feeling the magic sealing her to the side of the boab weakening as she moved about. Mezrielda was lying on the floor of the boab, looking at the sky quietly, not moving a muscle.

'Mezrielda?' Bagsy said, worried for a moment her friend was dead. Mezrielda blinked. Not dead, then, Bagsy thought in relief. 'Mezrielda,' she repeated, crawling over to her. The curved, bowl-shaped half of the boab tree shifted as she did. 'Are you alright?'

'It's all gone.' Mezrielda's voice was as quiet as the ruffling of the leaves around them, yet it still froze Bagsy to the spot. 'My spells. I can't remember them.' Mezrielda paused, her brow furrowing, her bottom lip wobbling as if she were about to cry. 'Except,' she breathed heavily, 'I think he let me remember one.' As if she were rifling threw a filing cabinet, Bagsy saw Mezrielda search through her own mind. Her expression turned grim with realisation. 'Obliviate,' she clarified ruefully.

In the next moment, Mezrielda's hands were on her face, and she really was crying then.

'Oh, Mezrielda,' Bagsy gasped. It was all she could think to say. Reaching her friend's side, she lay down next to her and pulled her into a hug. Mezrielda didn't resist, simply sobbing into her hands, keeping her face hidden.

'What am I now?' Mezrielda asked after a few minutes, dragging in deep, horrid breaths.

'What do you mean?'

'What am I? What's the point?' Mezrielda repeated, pulling her hands away from her face to stare hopelessly at Bagsy.

It was dark, but in the moonlight Bagsy could make out her friend's face – there wasn't a single tear, but her expression was far from fake. 'You're Mezrielda,' Bagsy answered simply, praying that was the right answer. Mezrielda shook her head, looking down at her hands glumly. 'Take a second to breathe,' Bagsy said, letting go of her and sitting up. 'I'll take a look at where we are.' Mezrielda nodded, moving to pull her knees to her chest and lean against the side of the boab's walls.

Cautiously, Bagsy stood back up and looked around again. There were trees stretching into infinity on all sides of them, the darkness of night engulfing anything from sight beyond a certain point. Except, when Bagsy turned, she saw in the far distance pin pricks of fire. From the flame's light, she could make out the collapsed shape of the Ministry's ship, cracked like an egg amongst the trees, its debris spreading around it like yolk. Bagsy gulped, realising they had been in that ship. She only hoped Bontie would find them soon.

It hit her, again, that her sister was alive, and Bagsy placed her hands on the edge of the boab, leaning against it as she let out a shaky breath of relief. She wasn't sure she could take much more excitement without her heart giving out. 'Bontie will find us soon,' she reassured Mezrielda. 'And then she'll restore your memories to you.'

Mezrielda's gaze snapped up to her, threateningly hopeful. 'You think she has the ability to restore my memories?'

Bagsy shrugged. 'There's a chance. Or, maybe, she'll know someone else who can.'

Mezrielda wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes darting fearfully from left to right. 'Mortem was going to kill you and… and there was nothing I could do to stop him. If something were to attack us now, before your sister arrives, there would be nothing I could do to defend us.' She looked back up at Bagsy. 'Is this how you always feel?' she asked quietly.

Bagsy took a second to regard her, considering the question. With a breath, she nodded her head. 'Yeah. Most of the time.' She scanned the forest around them again, clenching her jaw. Mezrielda was right – if something attacked them there would be nothing they could do but run. Their best hope was to stay vigilant until Bontie found them.

Bagsy looked back at the flames of the wreck in the distance. It looked very far away. They must have travelled a long distance within the boab – Bagsy reckoned Bontie must have cast a bouncing charm on it. It would have lessened the force of the impact, but it would also have made their landing location far less predictable. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, is occurred to Bagsy just how impossible finding them in the expanse of the forbidden forest would be for her sister. 'I wonder where Winifred and Robin ended up?' she murmured, sitting cross legged next to Mezrielda, who hummed to show she'd heard but said nothing else. Bagsy cast her a sideways glance. Mezrielda was hunched in on herself, staring at the floor with empty eyes stretched wide and unblinking. It was an upsetting sight to see. 'Maybe a bit of light will help relax us,' Bagsy offered, reaching for the muggle torch in her pocket. Mezrielda didn't respond. 'It may also help Bontie find us,' she added to only silence. 'Then again,' she continued, filling the space with her soft voice as she put the torch back, 'I suppose it could lead other things to us, and we don't want that.' Mezrielda didn't move. 'It's going to be okay,' she tried. Mezrielda was a statue. 'Hey, Mez,' she spoke, gently elbowing her. Mezrielda glanced at her briefly. 'I mean it. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay.'

'The Ministry test me every summer, remember?' Mezrielda spoke into the darkness. 'To see how my studies are progressing. If I don't pass, they'll take me away from my parents.'

Bagsy blinked at her. 'That…' She paused. What could you say to something like that? Words wouldn't make it any better. 'That's horrible… I'm so sorry, Mezrielda.'

Mezrielda pursed her lips and nodded in acknowledgement. 'Yes. It… sucks.' The last word was heavy and choked, and Mezrielda looked like she may cry again. Or, at least, cry that tearless-sort-of-crying she did.

'I didn't know you could use such ordinary words,' Bagsy joked, trying to lighten the mood. 'I think you mean to say that it's 'a most unfortunate event'.'

The side of Mezrielda's mouth quirked up at that. It disappeared as she let out a long, shuddering breath. 'I see I've set a president,' she deadpanned weakly. 'I shall strive to maintain my displays of substantial vocabulary henceforth.'

'Good,' was all Bagsy said in response, patting Mezrielda's arm in a friendly manner before they slid into silence. What had happened over the past hour settled like the trees around them. They sat a long time, listening to the baying of distant wolfs, the footsteps of strange creatures passing by that, thankfully, didn't notice them, and the brushing of the swaying leaves against each other. The smells of wet pine needles and cold, icy air slowly crept around them, joined by the distant hint of smouldering bark and melting metal.

With a frown, Bagsy strained her ears.

Mezrielda sensed her tensing. 'What?' she asked in a hushed voice.

Bagsy held a finger to her lips, and crept to the edge of the boab, sitting on her knees and peeking over the edge of the bowl. All she could see were trees swathed in shadows. She forced herself to keep her vigil – she'd heard something, though she wasn't sure what – and now she was getting that feeling of goose bumps along her arms.

Something was watching them.

Slowly, she reached into her robe. Thankfully Bontie had banished the back-to-front confusion curse Mortem had placed on her, so it wasn't hard to pull her muggle torch from her pocket. 'We may need to run,' she whispered in a low voice to Mezrielda, not daring to take her eyes off the trees and look back at her. Raising her trembling arm, Bagsy pointed the torch at the darkness before her.

With a click, she turned it on.