'Come on Bagsy,' Mezrielda encouraged her, grabbing the end of her robe's sleeve and giving it a tug. Bagsy gestured down the corridor silently. She and Mezrielda had been on their way to that morning's double Charms lesson but Bagsy had noticed Professor Starrett and Professor Fitzsimmons having a heated discussion on their way.
Starret, arms folded, glowered at Fitzsimmons. 'They won't be here for a while yet, they're not allowed to set off until after we've received their letter notifying us of the inspection, and we've only just been given it. We have time to prepare,' she insisted, uncrossing her arms to wave a letter with the Ministry's seal on it in Fitzsimmons face.
Fitzsimmons didn't look convinced. 'Our enemies must be closer than we first thought. I saw him enter the castle but a moment ago, though he didn't notice the moth that fluttered by him on its way to you.' Starrett narrowed her eyes in deep concern at this. 'Deal with him. I know you can, Emese. I must warn the other professors,' Fitzsimmons said, before abruptly turning into a moth and flying away.
Bagsy felt a sinking in her stomach.
'We should hurry to the classroom,' Mezrielda murmured ominously, looking cautiously over to Starrett, who hadn't noticed them loitering yet but would the second she'd decide to turn and hurry to the classroom.
'Yeah,' Bagsy agreed.
They found themselves seats near the back and got prepared for the lesson.
Strangely, Winifred came and sat in the seat in front of them. 'I wonder how you're going to piss of Starrett this time,' Winifred teased, putting her feet nonchalantly on the table in front of her and leaning back in her chair, placing her hands behind her bald head. 'I can shoot some fire at her if she gets too annoying,' Winifred offered. 'Can't let anyone walk all over my favourite Hufflepuff, now, can I?'
'Uh, please don't,' Bagsy managed to force out. She didn't like Starrett but she didn't want her roasted, either. Even so, Bagsy did feel a warmth that Winifred was even willing to offer to do such a thing for her.
With a click-clack Starret swept into the classroom with a face like thunder. She had barely made it half way into the room, not bothering to utter a word, before a guest followed after her. Murmurs of concern waved through the classroom as the third years' eyes found themselves on the tall figure of Mr Mortem, made only more looming when next to the short Starrett.
'If you're here to witness the most incompetent student at Hogwarts you've come to the right place. Miss Beetlehorn is in this class,' Starrett spat bitterly at Mr Mortem. Why she found now a good time to insult her, yet again, Bagsy didn't know.
Mr Mortem said, 'If you dislike a student then I have little reason to investigate them. We both know the main threats are any students who take you and your ideologies seriously, Emese.' Starrett looked at Mortem with open offense, until her face was turned away from him and Bagsy swore she saw a flash of relief, as if Starrett had successfully balanced a hundred playing cards into the structure of a tower. 'Besides, I actually had someone else in mind,' Mr Mortem explained, his eyes beginning to scan over the other students, starting with the rows on the opposite side from Bagsy.
Mezrielda looked down at Winifred, who was sitting in front of them, and then up at Bagsy, an urgent worry playing in her eyes. It took Bagsy a second to understand what her friend had already realised – Mortem was here for Winifred. If he pricked her finger now, or did any kind of test on her, she would be discovered as a phoenix borne. They had but seconds until Mr Mortem would be looking their way – and Winifred's bald head wasn't exactly inconspicuous. In fact, it would be exactly what Mr Mortem would be looking for. Without thinking, Bagsy swept Mezrielda's hair up into one of her hands and with the other thrust her head forward.
'Hey-!' Mezrielda yelped as Bagsy forced her to lean over and flipped her long, sleek black hair over their row and onto Winifred's scalp.
Just as Mr Mortem's eyes latched onto their side of the classroom, Bagsy's hands had arranged Mezrielda's long hair strands into position over Winifred's head, disguising her baldness. Bagsy thanked the stars that, though both startled, neither Mezrielda nor Winifred broke away from the precarious balancing act they'd found themselves in.
Mezrielda mumbled a spell under her breath and Bagsy saw the coloured accents on Winifred's robes turn from a Ravenclaw blue to a Gryffindor red.
'Brilliant…' Bagsy murmured, impressed.
Mezrielda growled, not able to look or respond as her head was thrust forward and ducked down, but her fists clenched angrily at the indecency of it all.
Mortem's eyes passed over them and Bagsy held her breath, but he failed to find the bald, Ravenclaw girl he was looking for in the crowd of students. Mortem turned angrily to Professor Starrett. 'Where is Winifred Ignis? I do hope you don't mean to ignore the Ministry's demands.'
'Of course not,' Starrett assured him icily. 'I mean to teach my Charms lesson. Now, if you'll excuse me.' Starrett proceeded towards the chalk board.
As she moved, Mortem followed swiftly after her. 'Have you hidden her somewhere over here, Emese? Is that it?'
Starrett stood protectively in front of her desk, as if a fugitive were concealed within it. 'Whatever do you mean?' she asked, blinking her eyes innocently. 'I'm sure if Winifred were here she'd be sneaking out of the door not hiding below my desk.' Starrett broke into a condescending chuckle at the end that seemed to send Mortem into a rage. He shoved Starrett aside and began forcefully moving the desk to check no one was hidden below it, pulling each drawer open before slamming it shut.
'Go!' Mezrielda hissed in a low voice, flipping her hair back over and lifting her head up. 'Get out of here! You heard Professor Starrett, sneak out the door!'
Winifred didn't need telling twice. Ducking low she scurried to the end of the row and towards the door.
'She'll need help,' Bagsy whispered, more to herself than anyone else, shuffling past the other students on their row in pursuit of Winifred, who had already reached the large double doors and, as quickly and quietly as she could, pried one of them open before squeezing through the gap. Just as the door was beginning to swing closed, Bagsy squeezed through after her, hearing a frustrated 'what are you doing!?' from Mezrielda, who hadn't managed to make it through.
'Who just left?' Mr Mortem's voice boomed from within the Charms classroom. He must have heard the mammoth door closing. Bagsy stood outside the double doors, frozen in fear. Winifred spun around, looking up and down the corridor for somewhere to hide, but was only met with an open, brightly lit space.
'Quick!' Bagsy rushed out, her brain unfreezing as she fumbled through her bulky robe's many pockets, fishing out the spider gloves and slippers. 'Use these! They'll let you climb on the ceiling!'
Looking stunned, but not having the time to protest, Winifred thrust the items on and, to her credit, with only a moment's hesitation she was clambering onto the walls until she was positioned, as still as she could be, right above Bagsy's head.
'I was testing the door handle,' came Mezrielda's poor attempt at a lie a second before the doors were thrown open. Mr Mortem's gaunt face was red with rage, a vein popping in his forehead and one of his eyes twitching.
'Mr Mortem if you insist on behaving like a child I'll have you removed from the castle,' Starrett scolded him, click-clacking after the him in an angry huff.
Mr Mortem slowly looked down at Bagsy, his beady eyes peering ominously at her through tiny spectacles. Bagsy could only look up at him and gulp, a feeling of fear raking through her. She was sure her knees were shaking from side to side. Then, suddenly, Bagsy couldn't see Mr Mortem, as Professor Starrett was standing in the way, blocking him from view.
'Bagsy, are you so useless that you forgot you need to be seated during class, or are you more of an attention seeker than I first thought?' Starrett spat at her, barely sparing her a loathing glance as she did so. Her nastiness seemed far more intense than Bagsy was used to.
At Starrett's harsh words Mortem seemed to lose the split-second interest he'd found in Bagsy, discounting her from his mind as something not worth thinking about, and hurried down the hall away from them, mumbling in a bad temper under his breath about where the pesky Winifred could be.
Starrett was very still and very quiet, watching the receding figure of Mortem. She didn't look at Bagsy, standing in the corridor, or Mezrielda, in the Charms classroom, or even Winifred, hiding on the ceiling. Bagsy wondered if she imagined the shaky breath Starrett let out before, like a puppet reattached to its strings coming abruptly back to life, she snapped at them to get back to their seats. Bagsy glanced upwards, but Winifred was already crawling along the ceiling away from them, perhaps to find her little sister, Robin, and warn her. They'd have to stay hidden until Mortem was gone.
Oddly, Starrett didn't so much as look in Bagsy's direction for the rest of the lesson. Despite the dramatic start, it was the most peaceful Charms class Bagsy'd ever had. Given her last Charms lesson had also contained far less taunting from Starrett, if Bagsy didn't know better, she could have almost believed Starrett was done with being mean to her.
Winifred and Robin were nowhere to be seen for the next few days. Mr Mortem, as well as a few other inspectors from the Ministry, had only been in the school on Monday morning, but Bagsy could understand Winifred and Robin's caution. Who knew what would happen to them if their abilities to heal through fire were discovered?
Bagsy had been quietly studying when Mezrielda had suddenly bolted up from her seat. 'I think it's been long enough,' Mezrielda said. 'They can't stay hidden there forever.'
'What?' Bagsy stumbled. 'Who? Where? What are you talking about?'
'Winifred and Robin, naturally,' Mezrielda breezed, rising from her chair and walking towards the exit of the library.
Bagsy, scrambling to get out of her own, followed her needlessly swift friend, nearly tripped over herself. 'How do you know where they're hiding?'
'Ssh!' the young librarian ordered them as they left, the old librarian simply huffed, face turned away from them as she quietly placed books on shelves.
'Sorry,' Bagsy murmured apologetically.
Mezrielda shot the young librarian a glare before ducking her head low and speaking to Bagsy in a quiet tone. 'Do you even have a memory, Bagsy?' she scoffed.
'Not everyone can be a genius, you know.'
'Why not? It's not exactly hard.'
Bagsy shot Mezrielda a look.
Mezrielda explained, 'They had a secret room for their Eagle Club last year. They must be there.'
In the castle basements, hidden behind a tapestry and at the end of a secret corridor, was a large, circular room that the members of the Eagle Club had used to meet and practise their duelling. Now, Mezrielda and Bagsy found themselves edging down the hidden passage in the dark and cold, seeing nothing but more darkness ahead of them.
'Hold on,' Bagsy murmured, fishing the muggle torch out of her robe and turning it on. It flicked on and off, stuttering against the dark. Bagsy sighed. 'I guess Tod was right. Muggle stuff just doesn't work here.'
'Honestly,' Mezrielda tutted. 'Lumos.' The passage lit up by the tip of Mezrielda's white wand they managed to make their way to the hidden room. Sitting in the dark, completely alone, were Winifred and Robin. As Mezrielda and Bagsy took a step into the room torches lining the walls burst into life, filling the space with a warm orange glow.
'Hi,' Winifred said in a quiet voice. Robin didn't say anything – her eyes were locked on the ground as she huddled against the wall. 'Sorry about the lack of light. We couldn't risk someone discovering this place…'
'Are you two alright?' Bagsy asked.
'Of course, they're not alright,' Mezrielda snapped. 'Look at them.'
'Yuuup. We must look a riiight state,' Winifred agreed. 'But it's not like we have much choice. If they find us…' Her eyes dropped down. Bagsy wasn't sure she'd ever seen her so silent.
'The inspectors are gone, as you already know,' Mezrielda said sharply, folding her arms. 'Or have none of your Eagle Club friends bothered to inform you of this?'
'They haven't, actually,' Winifred said. Mezrielda's arms dropped to her side in surprise. 'We disbanded the club. After the inspection on the train we couldn't risk the attention. After this inspection, I'm not sure we can risk staying at Hogwarts anymore… It's perfect you've come here. You both owe me anyway, and I need something doing that I can't do myself.'
'That's rich,' Mezrielda said. 'We owe you a favour.'
Winifred was on her feet. There was a sunken look to her face. It was likely neither she nor Robin had eaten since the inspection. 'Yes. You do. I let you into the Eagle Club last year, didn't I?' she sounded desperate, and slightly mad.
Mezrielda folded her arms again. 'You practically begged me to join. If anyone was doing anyone a favour, it was the other way around.'
'I let her join,' Winifred shot back, pointing at Bagsy, who instinctively shrunk away. Mezrielda took a step towards Winifred in complete silence. Her expression must have been dire as a flash of fear crossed over Winifred's tired face. 'Sorry. I… I didn't mean that,' she bit out. 'Please help us,' she begged, her voice cracking. 'We don't know what to do.'
'They've been holed up in the dark for two days,' Bagsy reminded Mezrielda, placing a hand on her arm. 'They must be exhausted, hungry and scared.'
Mezrielda looked down at Bagsy's hand for a beat, then back at Bagsy. She gave a scowl but stepped away from Winifred. 'What do you need?'
Winifred let out a breath, falling back to the ground as if standing was too much effort. 'We need you to send a letter to our parents. They don't know about aaany of this. We need to get out of here – but we can't hang around. The second we leave this room they need to be ready to take us far away. But if we send the letter ourselves, it may be traced to where our parents are. We'd also have to leave this room to go to the owlery, and if we leave this room…'
Robin suddenly grabbed onto Winifred's sleeve. 'They wouldn't take us… would they?'
Winifred looked at Robin, before placing her hand on her little sister's shoulder. 'No. No, they wouldn't. I wouldn't let them.' Her voice was soft. 'I'd do anything to keep you safe, Robin. Don't worry.'
Mezrielda tutted, tapping a foot on the floor. 'Alright. I suppose we can do that,' she relented.
'No!' Bagsy suddenly burst out, her eyes watering. She didn't know when she'd begun to feel bottled up, but suddenly emotions were rushing out of her. 'No! We won't do that!'
Winifred looked up at Bagsy in surprise. 'You're more of a pain than I first thought,' she snarled, looking genuinely hurt. Mezrielda raised her wand in response to the insult.
Bagsy quickly forced Mezrielda's arm down, looking at Winifred seriously. 'We won't send the letters, because you aren't going to leave Hogwarts!'
Winifred gave Bagsy a sideways look, her hurt faded, replaced with interest in what she had to say.
Bagsy wiped her eyes, balling her hands into fists. 'I'm going to make you more of that potion I did on the train – pheonix quelling potion – and the next time Mr Mortem tries to catch you out he won't discover anything and you won't have to leave, okay?'
Winifred narrowed her eyes. 'What do you want in return?'
Bagsy furrowed her brow in confusion. 'Nothing.'
Winifred and Robin exchanged a look.
'That sounds like a great deal for us,' Winifred smiled at her, looking very fond indeed. 'Never go into business, Bagsy. I don't think you'd be very good at it.'
