It had been a good few weeks since the incident with the supposed kidnapping, and Florentchia and Himble had failed to set Bagsy any punishments or talk to her about the event in any way. Bontie, however, had understood Bagsy's want to disappear off to Mezrielda's and enjoy her summer for once.
After the incident, Griffin and Bontie had spent more time back at One Aesher Common instead of at Griffin's. Griffin urged Bagsy on with her broom modifications, and Bontie was trying her best to school Bagsy on spell casting.
'Have you ever thought about modifying your wand?' Bontie had asked one day as Bagsy was tweaking her Fleet Footed Fox. Bagsy tilted her head. In truth, she hadn't. 'Maybe you should,' Bontie suggested. 'It might make your… lack-luster spell casting more manageable.'
Bagsy had spent the rest of the summer developing her own version of a wand training wheel. She didn't want them to be too obvious, less she be teased, but she also didn't want to blow anything up, and breaking from the standard blueprint she'd found in Building for Beginners was a sure-fire way to do so.
On days where she didn't feel like modifying her broom, or tweaking her wand training wheel, or practising quidditch with Griffin, or remaking her broken spell-sponge gloves, she worked her way through the third-year potions textbook.
'Look, Bill,' Bagsy said, holding a vial tinged ice blue by the liquid inside to her curious rat. Eldritch, who was perched on her wardrobe, looked down as well. 'Fire quell – if you take a fire breathing potion by mistake this will supress the flames and keep you, and everyone around you, safe,' Bagsy explained. Bill tried to nibble the glass, then made a face and scuttled off when she found she couldn't eat it. Bagsy chuckled.
When she turned back to her work a barn owl was standing on the wood of the desk, tilting its head and blinking its large, black eyes as it examined her. Bagsy recognised Greenda's owl. It had been entirely silent in its arrival, so to Bagsy it seemed as though it had teleported there.
Last year, Greenda had spent most of her time ignoring Bagsy and refusing to respond to her letters over the holidays. Though they'd become friends again Bagsy hadn't managed to bring herself to write Greenda a letter – she was terrified of the possibility she wouldn't get a response.
Greenda had sent a letter, though, and was asking how Bagsy was doing. The message was an olive branch and Bagsy gladly answered it, outlining the passing of Jill and the incident at Vespite Manor in her response. The flood opened, and Greenda and Bagsy were writing to each other almost every day after that. It helped pass the time and before Bagsy knew what was happening, it was time to return to Hogwarts.
'Remember what I told you,' Griffin said eagerly as Bontie pushed the trolley containing her luggage.
'Don't just look at the person with the ball – look at who they're going to pass too,' Bagsy repeated Griffin's advice.
Griffin nodded enthusiastically, smiling his warm smile. 'Yes! Yes! Nice one, kiddo.' He ruffled Bagsy's already messy hair. Bagsy ducked her head and yelped in protest but found herself laughing all the same.
'Would you two behave?' Bontie asked tiredly.
'Nope.' Griffin smirked.
Bontie rolled her eyes. 'I shouldn't be surprised. No one ever does what I say, or else the world would be a much simpler place. You two are little terrors, let me tell you.'
Once they'd passed through the barrier onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters Bagsy was instantly scanning the crowd, looking for sleek black hair and contempt-filled features. She was briefly distracted by a gaggle of Ministry officials waiting at the very end of the platform, looking like they were wanting to board the train.
Bagsy frowned. 'What's that about?' she asked Bontie.
'Nothing you need concern yourself with,' came Bontie's dismissive reply. 'Let's focus on finding Mezrielda.'
'What did you say she looked like, Bagsy?' Griffin asked, standing on tip toes and looking around.
'Long, sleek black hair, intimidating brown eyes, slightly above average height and of East Asian descent,' Bontie repeated Bagsy's earlier description, which Bagsy herself had repeated from how Mezrielda had described herself in one of her letters. 'Honestly, Griffin, you have a brain like a sieve.'
'Good thing, too,' Griffin joked. 'Or I'd remember all the times you've left me to do the dishes alone.' Bontie lightly slapped the side of Griffin's arm. 'There!' Griffin called out suddenly, pointing excitedly ahead of him.
Bagsy just about saw the top of someone's head and rushed forward, trying her best to weave through the crowd without touching anyone. 'E-excuse me, can I please come through?' she muttered as she moved. Soon, Bagsy found her eyes locking onto Mezrielda's back. 'Mezrielda!' she called.
Mezrielda turned around and looked Bagsy's dishevelled figure up and down. 'Did you run through that crowd to get to me?' she asked in disdain.
Bagsy looked down at her feet. 'Maybe.'
Mezrielda snorted. 'Of course, you did. Come on, let's get on the train.' Despite first impressions, Mezrielda didn't seem mad at Bagsy at all. Instead, she looked rather pleased with her needless hurry to join up with her.
'You must be Mezrielda,' Bontie greeted Mezrielda, holding out a hand. Mezrielda shook it and Bontie smiled slightly. 'You have a good handshake.'
'Thank you,' Mezrielda answered politely, dipping her head to Griffin. 'I pride myself on a good first impression, and a good handshake-'
'Is key to a good impression,' Bontie finished, an excited glint in her eyes. 'You're as wonderful in person as Bagsy informed me you were.'
Bagsy caught the brief stalling in Mezrielda's mind at that statement. 'Naturally.' Mezrielda shrugged, smoothly recovering. 'I'm known to have an incredibly enigmatic presence. I'm interested in intellectually stimulating conversations, so it was unavoidable for myself to make pleasant impressions upon all individuals.'
Bagsy and Griffin shared a look.
Bontie dusted one of her sleek robe sleeves. 'I can confirm you are indeed a brilliant presence to behold. I work at the Ministry for Magic, you see, and it is my profession to gleam one's character at but a glance. Evidently, you are a highly educated, and highly humble child indeed.'
Mezrielda looked ready to bite Bontie's head off.
'Let's get on the train…' Bagsy said, lightly holding Mezrielda's arm.
'Yes, it's about time they were leaving,' Griffin added with a nervous laugh, taking a hold of Bontie's hand. Then, in a low voice, 'Bontie, remember, she's still in school.'
Bontie seemed to cool down considerably at his reasoning. 'Be sure to write,' she said, placing a hand on Bagsy's shoulder.
Bagsy nodded, looking sadly up at her elder sister. 'I'm going to miss you.'
'That's because I'm such a great person,' Bontie agreed, with a teasing glance at a bristling Mezrielda.
'Bontie,' Bagsy chastised her.
Bontie looked down at her seriously, then knelt to be level with her. 'I love you, little sister. Please be safe this year. If there is any trouble, find one of the professors at school and talk to them. Don't get into trouble on your own. Promise?' Bagsy looked at Bontie curiously. What was her sister so concerned about? 'Bagsy, promise me,' Bontie repeated.
Bagsy nodded. 'I promise.'
'Good. Oh, and take this,' Bontie added, handing Bagsy a filled in form. 'You'll need this if you want to go to Hogsmeade.'
Bagsy looked down at a completed permission form to visit Hogsmeade. Bontie had forged their parent's signatures. Bagsy smiled. 'Thank you.' She'd tried to get her parent's signatures, but they'd either been too busy, or their automated magical voices had told her to not disturb them. She tried her hardest not the cry in gratitude for what Bontie had done, and without having to be asked, either.
As the Hogwarts express pulled away from the station, Bagsy leant half-way out the window. Bontie smiled weakly, deep concern hidden behind her eyes, whilst Griffin seemed a bundle of energy, waving his arms madly in farewell as the train disappeared from his sight.
The station far from view, Bagsy sat down in her seat. Mezrielda had already levitated their things onto the shelves above their heads.
'Is it okay if I let Bill out?' Bagsy asked. It was raining heavily and, for the first time ever, Mezrielda had been forced to keep her owl inside the train with them, instead of letting him fly to Hogwarts. The giant bird did not look pleased about it, and from the noise of raindrops battering against the windows, the train wasn't too keen on the weather, either.
'It's fine,' Mezrielda responded, checking her owl's cage was locked. The owl would be staying within it for the journey for Bill's safety. 'Crimson would find something to attack even if your rat wasn't here. Sorry, my friend,' Mezrielda added to her indignant looking owl, who pointedly turned around on his perch to face away from her. Crimson seemed a very fitting name to Bagsy.
Bagsy opened Bill's travel cage and picked her up gently, placing the old rat on her lap and stroking the top of her head. As they sat a strange noise joined them – it was the noise of something walking along the carriage in a very jerky, and unstable, manner.
Squeezing herself into the corner next to the window, Bagsy held Bill close to her chest. Eldritch, who Bagsy had let out of his cage, stood near the door, puffing out his already incredibly puffy feathers and spreading his wings in his best attempt at intimidation.
'What's that noise?' Bagsy squeaked.
Mezrielda, who was unperturbed, scoffed. 'Didn't you see at the station?' she asked. Bagsy shook her head, gulping in fear. 'Professor Blythurst is taking the train this year.'
'Why?' Bagsy asked, furrowing her brow and relaxing slightly.
'He looked incredibly unwell,' Mezrielda said, narrowing her eyes in thought. 'I reckon however he usually travels to Hogwarts is no longer an option for him in his poor health-' Mezrielda cut off as a shadow fell over the compartment door. Professor Blythurst looked even worse than he usually did as he lumbered passed them. He had his usual uneven appearance, with uneven scars, teeth, hair, eyes and a stubbly half-beard, but where before he had been a rotund man now he seemed like a deflated balloon. His skin was sagging and held a green tinge. His baggy, black robes fell about him like an oversized tablecloth and only exacerbated how pale he'd become – as if he hadn't seen sunlight in decades.
He didn't look at them as he passed by, a large trunk and a case of potions ingredients rolling along the floor independently behind him.
Once the uneven thuds of his footsteps were out of earshot Bagsy turned, horrified, to Mezrielda. 'He looks one sneeze away from death!' she whispered, her eyes wide with worry. Mezrielda pursed her lips and hummed her agreement.
Most of the journey was dedicated to discussing the possible causes for Blythurst's worsening health. Bagsy reckoned he'd accidentally poisoned himself with a miss-brewed potion. Mezrielda decided he'd been cursed by a hag.
Bagsy was in the middle of explaining why Blythurst was arguably uglier than a hag, and so a hag would never want to curse him, when someone rudely barged into their compartment.
Winifred turned her fiery amber eyes from Mezrielda to Bagsy. 'Pleeeease help meeeeee,' she begged, her voice an entitled whine. She looked sweaty, and she kept glancing down the train.
Mezrielda narrowed her eyes. 'What's wrong?' Bagsy guessed she was thinking the same as her – why would Winifred need help? As they'd seen last year in the Eagle Club she was a talented dualist and could heal herself with what she had dubbed 'the phoenix effect'.
'There's a mandatory inspection going up and down the train,' Winifred explained in a hurry. Bagsy noticed Winifred's little sister, Robin, standing behind her, shoulders tensed and head turning one way then another, scanning her surroundings constantly. 'They're pricking people's fingers – they can't find out about our powers!'
'I'm confused,' Mezrielda murmured. 'Why can't they know about your powers? Doesn't the school already know about your phoenix effect?'
'You mean where we can heal any injury by spontaneously combusting?' Winifred snapped. 'Surpriiiiisingly, we didn't think it was safe to let powerful people know about that. Technically some of the school faculty know about us, but there is no official record, and we have their word they won't tell the Ministry. The Ministry don't know about us - and we'd like to keep it that way. They experiment on 'creatures' like us,' she made quotes around the word, her lip curling into a snarl. The meaning of her tone was lost on Bagsy, but Mezrielda's demeanour shifted instantly from annoyance to concern-fuelled scheming.
'And that's exactly what will happen if you don't help us,' Robin piped up, peeping out from behind her big sister. 'If they prick our fingers and see us heal we'll be taken away for sure!'
'This damn inferno conscription…' Winifred grumbled furiously.
'What are we meant to do?' Mezrielda asked in frustration. 'We can't stop your phoenix effect any more than you can.'
'Um… actually…' Bagsy stammered, the beginnings of ideas fogging up her brain.
'Save the explanation,' Winifred cut over her. 'What do you need to make this work?'
'I'll need some potions ingredients… more than what I've got in my suitcase.'
Winifred shook her head. 'We can't wait until we get to Hogwarts. They're sweeping the whole train right noooow.'
'Perhaps hiding is appropriate?' Mezrielda suggested.
'Their searching spells as stronger than any stealth magic I know. We can't hide.'
'Exactly,' Mezrielda said curtly. 'Any magic you know.'
Winifred quirked an eyebrow. 'If you know a spell to keep us hidden, by all means,' she invited her. Mezrielda stewed for a moment, mouth twitching in anger as she folded her arms and turned her nose up at them. It seemed Mezrielda didn't have a spell up her sleeve for this situation, much to her frustration.
'Professor Blythurst had potions ingredients,' Bagsy recalled.
Mezrielda looked at Bagsy silently, thinking. 'Winifred, Robin,' she snapped at last, her words racing. 'What direction is the search coming from?' Winifred pointed to the back of the train. 'Good. Go to the front carriage at once and wait for us there, it's the furthest you can get from the inspectors. Lay as low as you can. Bagsy, gather what ingredients and tools you need from your trunk. We're going to pay Professor Blythurst a visit.'
Winifred and Robin, pulling the hoods of their robes up and hurrying down the train, left without another word. Bagsy quickly rifled through her belongings, throwing aside her soft toys, quilts, her muggle torch and her make-shift wand-training wheel as she went. Eventually, she had a cauldron, a handful of ingredients and two vials held in her arms.
'This way. Quickly,' Mezrielda ordered, popping her head out of the compartment and checking both ways. 'Ahead of me, Bagsy,' Mezrielda instructed, shielding Bagsy and her load from the view of official looking spellcasters who were standing down the other end of the train, talking seriously with some fifth years.
Bagsy scrambled ahead of Mezrielda, her heart hammering in her head as she desperately tried to remember the method for brewing fire quell. Fire quell was specifically a counter to the fire breathing potion. Bagsy knew it would need to be modified to work for Winifred and Robin – but with what?
Bagsy raced potions through her mind; Angel's trumpet draught, potion for dreamless sleep, wiggenweld potion, pompion potion, tangle-teasing solution… none of them offered what Bagsy was looking for. She needed a potion that targeted an indiscernible force within a person and effected it. If she could find that, she only needed to add ingredients that inhibited magical effects to get the job done. Or, at least, to make a potion with the best chance of getting the job done.
Just as Mezrielda was beginning to carefully, and silently, slide open the compartment door to Blythurst's compartment, it hit her. The Draught of Silver Cleanse. It cleansed a person of any effects laid upon them by a silver tongue. Jobberknoll feathers and zout were its main components and, she assumed, the foundational parts. They should allow Bagsy to target a force working within someone and alter or expel it. If she combined that with noxius fur-fangs via mortling that would be a strong basis for a phoenix effect quelling potion.
'Be quick, Bagsy,' Mezrielda instructed, standing guard. Blythurst was sitting, sound asleep, on one of the seats. He must have cast a spell on it as it was much larger and comfier than usual – probably to accommodate the large man himself.
His set of potions ingredients were neatly held in a mixture of wood and glass containers. As quietly as she could Bagsy worked through the different jars and vials, reading their labels and replacing them when they weren't what she was looking for. She kept glancing back up at Blythurst, convinced she'd find his uneven eyes open and glowering at her.
'We're running out of time, Bagsy,' Mezrielda urged, eyes fixed down the corridor where Bagsy presumed the officials were slowly approaching from.
The train rattled loudly, jerking to the side, and Bagsy knocked the ingredients off the seat they'd been resting on and onto the floor. 'Mez-!'
'Arresto momentum!' Mezrielda cast quickly, snapping her wand into her hand and in the direction of the vials. The ingredients hit the floor but, slowed, remained intact. Blythurst let out a loud snore and they both looked at him, wide-eyed and frozen, not daring to breathe. Blythurst shuffled around in his chair, muttering to himself, but his eyes remained closed. 'Less haste, more speed,' Mezrielda sniped. Bagsy nodded and, the ingredients spilled out on the floor, easily located the noxius fur-fangs she'd been searching for.
'Got it!' Bagsy declared in a triumphant whisper.
'Thank Merlin!' Mezrielda hissed, grabbing Bagsy's robe and hauling her out of the compartment. With a swift shove, Bagsy was walking ahead of Mezrielda again, out of the view of the now frighteningly close officials. They looked like they were from the Ministry, and the same as those Bagsy had seen on the platform.
Winifred and Robin were crouched on the floor at the end of the train, peeking out from behind the wall of the final compartment, the landscape of trees and fences dashing past visible through the small window. There was a small space at the end of the train, behind the driving compartment, that managed to fit three of them whilst leaving enough space on the floor for Bagsy to work. Mezrielda stood watch in the corridor.
Bagsy carefully added the ingredients at what she thought were the correct times, every now and then asking Winifred to cast the flames below her cauldron to be hotter or cooler.
'Three compartments to go…' Mezrielda counted down as Bagsy began the final boiling stage. The liquid was taking its time to heat up. 'Two compartments…' Mezrielda added, her voice concerned.
Bagsy's hands where shaking as she poured the boiling liquid into two different vials and handed them to Winifred and Robin. 'How are you going to drink those?' Bagsy asked in a small voice.
Winifred and Robin both smirked and downed the potions, the boiling heat seemingly not affecting them.
'It's kinda salty,' Winifred commented nonchalantly.
However, after a few moments, both made pained expressions.
'Oww!' Robin hissed, dropping the vial and putting a hand to her throat. 'What's going on?'
'That huuuurt…' Winifred said in amazement, also clasping her throat. 'That's new.'
'That means it's working,' Mezrielda cut in, waving her wand to collect the left-over potions equipment and levitate them into Bagsy's robe that was so full of pockets it easily accommodated it. 'I'd imagine the phoenix effect numbs the pain of heat. If that boiling potion hurt, then that means its supressing it.'
'There's only ooone way to find out…' Winifred murmured ominously as she stood up, looking at the ministry officials who were now standing before them.
'Students,' Mr Mortem greeted them, pushing between the two wizards in front of him. Mezrielda didn't bother to hide her harsh glare. Bagsy shrunk behind her friend, hoping Mr Mortem wouldn't try to speak to her. 'We're here on Ministry business – we've had an anonymous tip that dangerous creatures are posing as students to enter Hogwarts. We're doing a mandatory search to ensure this does not happen.'
'Anonymous tip?' Mezrielda scoffed. 'Likely story.'
'Listen here, young lady,' Mr Mortem fumed in his nasally voice. Stretching to his full height he filled the corridor almost completely. Bagsy squeezed her eyes shut as he loomed over them. 'I am head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and you will do as I say.'
Mezrielda bared her teeth.
'I can and will have you expelled if you do not comply with my authority,' Mortem added. Bagsy felt Mezrielda stiffen and then give in, holding her hand out in a sharp gesture, as if she'd prefer to punch the man. 'Good,' Mortem said with grim satisfaction as he pulled out a small needle and swiftly pricked Mezrielda's finger. He was far harsher with it than needed and Mezrielda let out a small gasp of pain. Bagsy opened her eyes as a feeling of anger gripped her stomach.
'Bagsyllia?' Mortem said next. Mezrielda, sucking her pricked finger, gently guided Bagsy in front of her, keeping a hand on her shoulder. Bagsy held out a shaking finger, closing her eyes again, her anger dissipating. She felt a sharp sting in her fingertip and withdrew her hand instinctually, clasping it with her other. 'Interesting scars on your palms, Miss Beetlehorn,' Mortem commented, adjusting the spectacles on his small nose. Bagsy looked at the pin-prick of blood on her finger quietly. Her throat felt dry and clogged all of a sudden at the sight of the red sludge. Mezrielda swiftly, and carefully, wiped Bagsy's finger clean with a handkerchief, and the horrific memories in her head melted away.
Winifred and Robin were next, and Bagsy found herself holding her breath as Mortem pricked first Winifred's and then Robin's finger. Mortem watched both with a hungry expression, his eyes flicking from one sister to the other and back again, that turned to confusion and finally frustration when the small injuries on their fingers remained the same. No healing through fire revealed itself. Bagsy felt a thrill of relief at the sight – her potion had worked!
Mortem roughly grabbed Winifred's hand and pricked it again, practically stabbing her with the needle.
Winifred tugged her hand out of his grasp as he moved to pierce her skin once more. 'Get off me, old man!' Winifred hissed. Mortem glared at her in silent fury before sweeping away from them, past his colleagues and down the train's corridor, muttering to himself. The other ministry officials shared a look before following suit.
Winifred and Robin turned to Bagsy, gratitude in their eyes.
'Cheers, Bagsy,' Winifred said, smiling at her. 'You reeeeally saved our behinds there.'
'Of course,' Bagsy responded in a low voice, holding as close to Mezrielda as she could, wondering if Mr Mortem would return to prick the rest of her fingers, and maybe even her eyes.
Winifred wasn't done. 'Did I ever tell you how cooooool I think you are? Cause I do. Think you're cool, that is.'
'T-thanks,' Bagsy muttered, looking past Winifred, still fretting that Mortem was about to reappear.
'I mean it,' Winifred continued. 'All those gizmoos you can make – those gloves of yours – and now this potion. It's just… rad! Truly awesome, you know?'
Bagsy barely managed to nod. Her throat felt tight and her head thrummed with anxious thoughts. She'd just knowingly done something against the Ministry's wishes.
'Everything's fine, Bagsy,' Mezrielda said, seeming to sense her discomfort. 'Let's return to our carriage. Bill will make you feel better.'
Winifred beamed at them. 'Yeah, you go rest up. See you at school!'
Robin echoed her elder sister's sentiments, giving Bagsy a thumbs up.
Bagsy nodded. Bill would help, and Winifred's glowing compliments were starting to make her feel more abashed than fretful, but she found Mezrielda's assurance was all she'd needed.
