Bagsy tip-toed her way to the highest, and furthest back, seat in the Charms classroom. The Charms room was an impressive one – it was long and rectangular with a high, arched ceiling. A walk way stood in the middle, flanked on each side by rows of benches that climbed higher the further back they went.

Bagsy sat nervously, fiddling with her text book and wand as the class waited for Professor Starrett to enter. With a sinking heart, Bagsy heard the click-clack of Professor Starrett's high heels as she approached the classroom. She also heard the professor speaking with someone. When Starrett entered with Primrose Vinski, Logan Mattson and Rebekah Grossman walking at her side Bagsy's stomach sank even further.

Mezrielda eyed the group curiously, holding her wand next to her ear she whispered, 'Eavesculto.' Bagsy could hear a fuzzy repetition of whatever conversation Starrett and the three students were having echoing just next to Mezrielda's ear, too far away from her own ears to make sense of it. Primrose wasn't speaking, her arms were crossed and, if anything, she looked annoyed that they were walking alongside a professor. Rebekah, though, was hurriedly murmuring to Starrett.

Bagsy sat in silence as a pensive look fell over Mezrielda's face as she listened into the conversation, before her expression became worried. 'Rebekah saw you put the wand training wheel on-' Mezrielda rushed out urgently, but it was too late.

'Miss Beetlehorn,' Starrett called out loudly as Primrose, Rebekah and Logan found their seats. Rebekah shot Bagsy a triumphant look, Primrose shot her a glare and Logan simply got out his work for the lesson. 'Care to join me in front of the class?'

'May we start the lesson instead of picking on students?' Mezrielda shot back. The third years, who had all assembled for the double Charms lesson, muttered eagerly to each other at the approaching conflict. Bagsy swore she saw two Gryffindors, and tall boy and a girl with her ginger hair in a bun, pull popcorn out.

'I'll start the lesson once I've ensured no one is endangering the class. Miss Beetlehorn to the front. Now.' Starrett's tone left no room for argument. Mezrielda shot Bagsy an apologetic look as she made her way down. Her legs felt like they were magnetized to the floor each step was so difficult.

She came to a stop in front of Professor Starret. The woman had only been a head taller than Bagsy in her first year, given how short she was. Bagsy felt some solace that, were Starrett not wearing her severe high-heels, she would now be taller than her.

Professor Starrett walked around Bagsy in a circle, her red and gold robes like a matador's cape. 'If you really wanted a wand-training wheel you should have asked me. Then again, you're evidently still labouring under the pretence of being a poor spellcaster, trying to convince the world you are incompetent at magic,' Professor Starrett said, abruptly snatching Bagsy's wand out of her hand and holding it up for the class to see. 'What we have here, students,' Starrett explained, 'is a rudimentary attempt at a wand-training wheel by someone who has no clue what they are doing. Such meddling with complicated magical processes is incredibly dangerous and foolish.' Starrett held the wand out to Bagsy. 'Give us a demonstration of your stupidity, if you would,' she instructed.

Bagsy hesitantly took the wand from Starrett's hand. Starrett took a number of steps backwards and Bagsy found herself taking a fearful gulp of air.

'Cast lumos,' Starrett informed her after a long stretch of silence. 'If you can be bothered to stop this pathetic, incapable act of yours, that is.'

Bagsy sucked in another breath and decided to get it over with. She squeezed her eyes shut, waved her wand, and spoke the incantation. 'Lu-!'

She was cut off by a loud bang as she was thrown backwards and onto the floor, feeling a sharp pain in her chest like a massive balloon was trying to force its way out of her ribcage, threatening to snap her bones as it did. The wind knocked from her, Bagsy looked up at the ceiling with wide, confused eyes. The impact had been oddly soft, and she was numbly aware that, in the split second she'd been thrown backwards, Starrett had softened the hard stone she'd been heading towards. The pain in her ribcage grew, like a giant stone was trying to burst out of her flesh, but with a few spells from Starrett it faded, and Bagsy let out a breath of relief.

'And there we have it, class, why you shouldn't try building things you have no clue-' Starrett trailed off, her eyes fixing on the end of Bagsy's wand where a small, gleaming pin prick of light flickered.

Bagsy had seen it too. Her wand training wheels had somewhat worked – she'd produced light.

Within a second it had dimmed and faded, as if it had never been there.

Starrett stormed over and ripped the training wheel off of Bagsy's wand with one skeletal hand, Bagsy too dumbfounded to protest. 'Back to your seat, now,' Starrett ordered Bagsy. The look of anger and fearful confusion on Starrett's face was heart-freezing.

Bagsy scrambled to her feet and hurried back to Mezrielda, sitting down next to her. None of the other students had been close enough to see the gleam at the end of Bagsy's wand, but with one excited look Mezrielda seemed to work out what had happened.

'I guess Starrett does have her uses,' Mezrielda joked when the class began practising.

'Yeah, but now she also has my training wheel,' Bagsy added ruefully.

Mezrielda cast a sideways glance at Starrett who was stiffly praising Maisy Jewel, the girl with the triangular glasses, on the spinning charm she'd cast on one of the small mannequins each student had been given.

Bagsy didn't manage to cast another spell that lesson, and her hope began to dim, like the light from her wand, as she realised there was no way to retrieve her wand training wheel from Professor Starrett.

After Charms had finished Bagsy felt well and truly miserable about the loss of her wand training wheel. Thankfully, Starrett had been oddly weary of her the rest of the lesson, and as Bagsy left the classroom she glanced back to see Starrett staring at the confiscated wand training wheel in deep concern.

Walking to the great hall dozens of students paused by Bagsy to mimic the noise of an explosion or shoot a full body-bind curse her way. Thankfully, none of them were a match for Mezrielda, who countered their spells easily and set about knotting their hair up with well-cast implexio jinxes.

'Ignore them,' Mezrielda growled in frustration as Primrose and Rebekah fell about laughing as Logan did an imitation of someone falling onto their back in clumsy surprise.

'I wish I could…' Bagsy trailed off, holding her head low and hoping she could turn invisible.

Bagsy ate her lunch quickly and headed for the library, wanting to get away from the other students. Mezrielda had Arithmancy after Lunch so she wouldn't be joining Bagsy in their cosy nook of the library during personal study. Bagsy felt terrified of what the other students would do to her without Mezrielda present to scare them off.

Thankfully, Tod Alden was at her side moments after she left the hall. 'I don't have any electives now. How about yourself?' Tod asked. Bagsy shook her head. 'Wonderful. Let's discuss my power.'

Bagsy led Tod to the nook in the library, saying a relieved hello to the matured stampelia that stood proudly on the windowsill overlooking the lake. It had grown at least another foot since Bagsy last saw it, and its flowers were branching out and becoming a more vibrant pink. Bagsy wondered if it would be a tree by the time she finished at Hogwarts. It certainly looked like the kind of plant that would, one day, grow into something very special indeed.

'What questions do you want to ask me?' Tod queried, sitting down at the table.

Bagsy fished out a notebook and a quill. 'What can your power do?'

'Is that question strictly necessary?' Tod murmured, narrowing his eyes. 'Can't you ask other things?'

'Do you want me to help you or not?' Bagsy shot back, then, 'I mean to say, if you want me to help you you'll have to share the secrets of your power with me. It's necessary.'

Tod folded his arms and made a face. 'Alright, then,' he relented at last. 'I can alter what a person perceives as true.'

'Such as…?' Bagsy urged, feeling excited that, at last, she would understand what a silver tongue was and did.

'Mainly I can – could – alter memories. On occasion I found it possible to change a person's opinions or feelings, but that's far trickier to accomplish.'

'I see…' Bagsy trailed off, amazed.

'Do you want to write that down?' Tod urged her.

Bagsy nodded and began scribbling in her notebook. 'Anything else it can do?'

'No.'

'Okay… and what were its limits?'

'I don't see why you need to know that,' Tod snapped, bristling like a hedgehog.

'Tod, I swear I am trying to help. I won't use this information against you.'

Tod gritted his teeth. 'The more I used the power the more energy it took from me. It was like… each sentence I filled with the silver charm – that's what I call it – felt like an hour of running. The longer or more numerous the sentences, and the greater the fortification of the mind I was attempting to alter, the more exhausting it would be.'

'Anything else?' Bagsy pushed, sensing there was something Tod wasn't saying.

'No.'

'Tod, please. Something you may think isn't important may, in fact, be distinctive. Anything like that is how I'm going to find other abilities to compare yours to – and to base a recovery off of.'

Tod stood up and walked a few paces away, putting one of his hands to his face. Bagsy wondered if he was wiping his eyes. When Tod returned and sat back down he had an expression like murder. 'If I were to have used too much of my power it would have killed me instantly. If a silver tongue pushes themselves too far there is a great burst of their power and then… nothing. Ever again.'

Bagsy looked at him silently, not knowing what to say. The only question she could think of was how Tod knew this was the case, but that question was one she knew she definitely shouldn't ask. 'That's very helpful…Tod,' she said instead, jotting his comments down. 'That sounds similar to something I read once about shapeshifters. I'll start my work there, if that's okay?'

'Yes. That's fine.'

'Good. And Tod, honestly, this stuff stays with me. I won't betray you.'

Tod scoffed but seemed somewhat relieved to hear it.

Bagsy spent the rest of her personal study reading up on shapeshifters and doppelgangers and changelings. Mezrielda had been right – they were kind of creepy – but she had also been wrong – they weren't just stories.

She read an account about how doppelgangers had infiltrated a small community in Australia and slowly, as they multiplied, killed and replaced the other villagers until the entire village had been erased. A wizard named Opius Pepsini had arrived and, through his quick thinking, resourcefulness and bravery, had defeated the doppelgangers.

'Tod,' Bagsy said suddenly, pulling the boy out of his reading. He was in the middle of the third book in the Vampire Affairs series, titled Stolen Sister, which had slowly been growing in popularity amongst the Hogwarts students.

'Yes?'

'Listen to this,' Bagsy said, reading aloud. 'Pepsini tricked the doppelgangers into drinking his concoction, causing them to shift from one form to another endlessly. Eventually, all that was left of their changing bodies were piles of rubble and sand.'

Tod looked at Bagsy blankly.

'Don't you see?' Bagsy asked. Tod shook his head. 'The doppelgangers have an ability that they just… have. They didn't train for it, or learn it, they just have it.'

'The word you're looking for is innate,' Tod yawned.

'My point,' Bagsy continued excitedly, 'is that whatever concoction Pepsini made was able to directly target what they had and, by over-using it, killed them.'

'Wonderful. We know how to kill me. Thank you deeply, Bagsyllia.'

Bagsy sucked in a frustrated breath. 'I'm trying to say that his concoction will have certain ingredients that are in there to do certain things when combined with the others. If I can analyse the potion I can figure out what did what and isolate the ingredients that allowed him to target the doppelgangers innate-ness.'

'That's not how you use that word and, anyway, lots of spellcasters have all sorts of innate abilities and traits. That doesn't mean they all have the same cure.'

'No,' Bagsy agreed, 'but they all have similarities. How one can be treated is related to another. It's like…' Bagsy drummed her fingers on the table. 'It's like how if you want pumpkin juice you use a pumpkin, but if you want apple juice you use an apple.'

Tod stared at her for a long time, eyebrows raised in befuddlement.

Bagsy pushed on. 'Both have different ingredients and different flavours and different processes, but when you understand how these all come together – how you have to have a fruit and you have to squash it – you understand how these different but similar drinks are related. Then, you can understand that doing one thing to one of the drinks, say, adding ice to it, will do something similar to the other, because of the similarities between them.'

'You don't know this for sure,' Tod pointed out. 'It's an educated guess, by the sounds of it. I'd rather not stake my life on an educated guess. I feel confident in saying this is a tad more complex that fruit juice.'

'I'm in the early stages, Tod,' Bagsy explained. 'Give me enough time and I'll have something that will get back your powers at best or, at worst, give you a headache or something.'

Tod bobbed his head from side to side as he thought. He didn't look too comfortable with the idea. 'Just make sure you do your homework before you give me anything to drink.'

'Of course.'

Bagsy returned to her reading, her excitement tempered by Tod's worry, even if it was fair of him to be concerned.

As she researched Bagsy was also keen to see a section on Animagi which she hastily read, taking her time to learn the full process an Animagus had to go through and think about how on earth she was going to make a weather machine. The book revealed why Mezrielda had requested it – Animagi need an electrical storm present whilst drinking the transfiguration potion. Why Mezrielda couldn't just wait for one, Bagsy didn't know, but she'd be sure to suggest so next time she saw her.

By the time personal study was over Bagsy realised she'd done none of her Charms homework, or any preparation reading for the Potions lesson she had that evening. Figuring it was a one-off, Bagsy set off towards Potions, her mind alight with ideas and inventions.

The Potions' classroom was deep in the dungeons and as brisk as usual. Bagsy found herself huddled over the flame beneath her cauldron as she resisted the chattering of her teeth. This year she had Potions with the Slytherins. Tod sat down next to her and Bagsy noticed, as she was on the end of the row, there was no way for Mezrielda to sit next to her, too.

'Um, Tod…?' Bagsy murmured sheepishly.

'Yes?' Tod wondered pleasantly before his dark eyes sharply took in the seating situation. 'Ah. I see,' he muttered ruefully. 'Make way for Glint. I should have known.'

'I'm sorry. We can move one down and you can-'

'It's alright, Bagsy, I can tell when I'm unwelcome,' Tod grit out bitterly before storming off to a seat on the other side of class. Bagsy shrank in on herself and looked miserably at her empty cauldron. When that became boring she inspected the different jars and ingredients cramming the shelves around the room. When she saw glazed, floating eyes and severed ears staring back at her, as well as odd tendrils and tentacles, she decided her cauldron was plenty interesting enough.

Mezrielda couldn't have arrived sooner and, when she sat down next to her, Bagsy let out a small breath of relief.

'I finally get to see your potion work in action,' Mezrielda said in a low voice to Bagsy as she, and the rest of the class, prepared. 'I've heard great things.'

Bagsy shrugged, her face flushing. 'I'm okay, I guess…'

It was obvious when Professor Blythurst was approaching – he could be heard struggling down the corridor at least two minutes before he creaked the door open. With a difficult limp, Blythurst managed to reach his desk at the front of the classroom and collapsed onto it. He had a piece of cloth pulled around the lower half of his face, covering his mouth, and Bagsy could both see and hear the man drawing in painful, rattling breaths. After a moment of quiet, in which Blythurst's rasping filled the echoing space, he shakily rose to his feet and, with a jerking arm that shook his oversized, black wizard's robes, wrote out instructions on the board.

Today they were to brew confusing concoction. Unlike last year, Bagsy didn't have double potions, but two separate, one hour lessons. Knowing her time was more limited, the second Bagsy guessed what Blythurst was spelling she shot off towards the shelves housing scurvy grass, lovage and sneezewort. Confusion concoction had been in one of the earlier chapters of Beyond the Fundamentals: What Makes Potions. It had been used as an example of how you could repurpose ingredients based on what they did in other potions. Scurvy grass, lovage and sneezewort, as key components in confusing concoction, could be used for other, similar purposes, as they all excelled in the inflammation of the brain.

Bagsy gathered what she'd need only to turn around and see half the class had followed her and were closely inspecting what she had in her arms.

'What's that one?' Teresa asked, pointing at the glass of lovage.

'L-lovage…' Bagsy stuttered, shrinking under the many gazes focussed on her.

'What's that?' Maisy Jewel, a Slytherin, asked.

'S-sneezewort,' Bagsy nervously supplied whilst Neve, Jon and Itsuki quickly gathered the same ingredients she had.

Setting to work and ignoring those watching her, Bagsy began by twisting instead of crushing the sneezewort until all the juices had been properly disposed of onto one of Arborabra's patented absorption mats. Some students missed this trick and Bagsy noticed Neve go stiff and feint after breathing the fumes in, much to Teresa's dismay when she realised telling her to walk it off wasn't doing anything. Jon and Itsuki managed to dispose of the juices correctly, but didn't catch the specific chopping technique, and had to start over. Maisy, interestingly enough, seemed to copy everything Bagsy did perfectly, clearly paying close attention.

It took Bagsy a while to realise Mezrielda was the only person who didn't seem to be copying her or copying someone else who was copying her. Instead, she was frowning at the instruction board thoughtfully, trying to piece together what she could from the little Blythurst had given them. 'Make sure the sneezewort is empty' wasn't very clear and Bagsy saw Mezrielda had been trying to hollow out the sneezewort strands. It would have the same effect of ensuring none of the juices entered the potion, but it would lower its potency and longevity.

'You can copy me, if you want,' Bagsy offered, whispering so no one else would hear. She wasn't keen on people copying her – if she made a mistake it was a chain reaction throughout the whole class – but if there was one person she was okay with copying her, it was Mezrielda.

Mezrielda, however, shook her head. 'Thank you, Bagsy, but I'll do this on my own. Your work is yours. I wouldn't take that away from you. Besides, I'm Mezrielda, I don't need help.'

Bagsy felt a small smile creep onto her face and held back the retort that she was helping Mezrielda with becoming an Animagus.

By the end of the lesson Bagsy had made such an effective confusion concoction that, when Mezrielda gave it a sniff, she briefly mixed up her left and her right and walked straight into Bagsy, nearly barrelling her over. Bagsy heard some snickering behind her and glanced to see Primrose and Rebekah averting their gaze and holding back giggles.

Mezrielda rotated, grabbing the bench, and pulled herself off of Bagsy as she swayed on her feet. 'That is very strong stuff…' Mezrielda slurred, her speech sounding weird.

'Are you okay?' Bagsy asked in concern. Mezrielda's eyes looked hazy and she had an unfocussed expression.

'Gelugmenta!' Bagsy heard Primrose cast from across the class room. Mezrielda tried to counter the jinx, but her usual deftness was replaced with a clumsy fumble and a dropped wand. Bagsy recognised the cold-sneeze jinx and saw a small icicle shoot into Mezrielda's chest, turning into sparkling dust on impact.

Mezrielda failed to hold back a shudder and Bagsy could almost feel the coldness moving up her back from where she stood. There would be only a second before she would sneeze a deluge of ice.

Bagsy scrambled for her wand, a desperate hope driving her. 'Teporiem!' Bagsy tried to cast. The end of her wand sputtered like a dying steam train and, feeling failure settle in her stomach, Bagsy saw sharp icicles shoot out of Mezrielda's nose and mouth as she sneezed very loudly indeed. Primrose and Rebekah fell about in hysterical laughter as Mezrielda furiously wiped blue coloured snot away with a handkerchief, turning her face from the other students in the class.

Bagsy looked at Professor Blythurst who, though usually lazy, always snapped into action when something untoward happened in his class. Blythurst, despite having clearly watched the events unfold, seemed to lack the energy or ability to reprimand Primrose and Rebekah.

'Not so tough now, are you?' Primrose shot at Mezrielda with a sneer whilst Rebekah tried to control her amusement, taking in long, ugly breaths of air.

Mezrielda gingerly leant down to collect her wand from the floor before straightening to face the two. The confusion she'd been briefly ailed by was gone and her razor stare cut straight through them. 'We are in a Potions classroom,' Mezrielda explained as if talking to two-year olds. 'There are lit fires, explosive ingredients, and fellow students around us. Quit making a fool of yourselves and spare some thought for safety and decorum.' She spun back to her work bench, swiftly collecting her ingredients, pointedly not looking at either Primrose or Rebekah, and returned the items to their homes. She kept her head held high the entire time.

Bagsy was deeply confused. If Mezrielda had wanted to, she could have tied bows with Primrose's legs, or turned Rebekah into a frog. Taking the high road was not something she had ever expected of her.

She had her explanation once they'd left the classroom.

'That went well,' Mezrielda said, the hint of a grin pulling at the corner of her lips.

'It did?' Bagsy squeaked.

'Not at first, I suppose,' Mezrielda admitted as they walked towards the library, intending to spend some time working before dinner and, for Bagsy, Quidditch try-outs. Mezrielda had decided it was best if she didn't attend try-outs this year, given the events of the last one, where she'd been accused of attempting to kill Emmeline. 'Sneezing ice isn't a good look, and not conducive to ascension of the social ladder,'

'I hate it when you talk like this…' Bagsy muttered, struggling to understand all the big words Mezrielda was using.

'Never the less,' Mezrielda continued, looking only smugger at Bagsy's comment, 'by responding with dignity and sensibility I made myself look better than they did. The rest of the class went from thinking I was pathetic, to wishing they had the patience and presence I have.'

Bagsy realised that Mezrielda was right. Primrose and Rebekah had managed to prank her but, in the end, Mezrielda had made both of them look like good-for-nothing bullies whilst seeming a saint herself. Bagsy found herself laughing.

'What?' Mezrielda asked, furrowing her brow.

'You are a sly one, Mez,' she giggled. Mezrielda feigned indignation but there was a happiness hidden below that Bagsy could easily see.

'If you say so, Bags.'

Bagsy couldn't help giggling more. 'Oh Merlin, no. Stick with Bagsy please.'