Professor Starrett wasn't keen at the prospect of making an announcement on Mezrielda's behalf, but Professor Fitzsimmons had personally appeared to enforce the action.
'Miss Glint…' Starrett forced out to the gathered third years, who had been expecting their normal double Charms lesson, '…is taking a vow of silence to raise awareness for the magically mute of St Mungo's hospital. She has kindly provided us with pamphlets for those curious for more information.'
'How kind of her!' Bagsy heard Paloma murmur in front of her. Maisy, who was sitting next to her, grunted in annoyance but didn't correct her.
Primrose, who was on the opposite side of the class, looked positively indignant. She leant over to Logan, who was sitting next to her, and whispered something in his ear, before turning to Rebekah and repeating the action. Both of them erupted into hushed giggles they seemed barely able to contain. Bagsy shot them all glares until the second they began turning their heads in her general direction, at which point she stiffly looked down at her messy notebook and tried to shrink to the size of a squirrel.
'Yeah!' Teresa called loudly, sounding proud. 'Speak for those who can't speak for themselves!' she cheered. Neve nodded her head in agreement, but if she added anything verbally it was too quiet to be heard. Mezrielda gave a polite bow in Teresa's direction.
'Sit down, Miss Aviry!' Starrett snapped at Teresa. 'You too, Miss Glint, return to your seat, I have a class to teach.'
Mezrielda obeyed, gracefully walking up the steps and down the row to sit elegantly next to Bagsy, picking her quill up and neatly taking notes as the class began.
It surprised Bagsy just how long it took before Primrose began to cause a fuss. She managed to last the entirety of Potions, and most of Monday lunch, before approaching them.
'So,' Primrose drawled, Rebekah and Logan on her tail. 'A vow of silence, huh? What are you really doing. I can't believe someone like you would ever think about anyone but themselves.' Mezrielda looked at Primrose with a blank expression, and then forced herself to smile with all the softness of a pit of spikes. Primrose's nose flared in annoyance. 'Answer me. I know you couldn't give a rats arse about this vow of silence.'
'Don't bring rats into this,' Bagsy found herself saying in a small voice.
Primrose sneered and turned swiftly away from them. 'I'll bring rats into this if I want to,' she muttered as she walked off. Bagsy had been foolish, watching Rebekah and Logan follow after her, in her assumption that that was that.
At lunch the following day, for what felt like the first time in years, the sun was out and it wasn't raining. Mezrielda and Bagsy were relaxing outside enjoying the weather and the space they could put between themselves and others. Mezrielda was sitting on the grass, examining a book on different types of rocks and possible transfiguration spells to shift them, and Bagsy was hitting a ball up with a bat to see how long she could go before dropping it.
Without warning, there was a yelled incantation, and a spiral of ice shot towards Mezrielda. Not taking a second to think, Bagsy shot her hand out, the icicle shattering across her palm before it reached her friend. Instantly, she felt a chill creep up her back and to her throat, a sneeze bubbling in her chest. She'd forgotten she wasn't wearing her spell-sponge gloves. Surprisingly, though, a warmth spread across her back and the cold-sneeze jinx dissipated.
Confused, Bagsy turned to see Mezrielda, now aware of what was happening and on her feet. She had her wand in hand and was lowering it to her side. Bagsy wondered if Mezrielda had just cast a spell. Only, she hadn't heard her say teporiem so how could she have? Before she could think on it more, Primrose, because of course it was Primrose, let out a growl and hurled another jinx at Mezrielda. Bagsy watched, confused, as Mezrielda swiped her wand through the air and countered it without opening her mouth. Bagsy's own mouth was gaping in disbelief.
With a few flicks of her wand, Mezrielda wrote, in fiery writing, "leave" in the air.
'How are you doing that?' Rebekah, who was standing with Primrose, wand at the ready, asked. Mezrielda tilted her head to the side and cast Rebekah a disdainful look, holding her wand casually at her side, looking entirely content despite the challenge before her.
'Leave us alone,' Bagsy added, pleadingly, before ducking as bolts of green and bright flashes of light flurried over her head towards Mezrielda in answer. Once again, Mezrielda simply countered each curse hurled her way without uttering a syllable.
Mezrielda arched an eyebrow, and the meaning was clear; is that the best you can do? Primrose seemed to be considering if this duel was something she wanted to continue – clearly, she hadn't expected Mezrielda to be able to cast any spells in return, given her vow of silence. Yet, somehow, Mezrielda had learnt to cast spells non-verbally. As Bagsy subtly slipped her spell sponge gloves on it occurred to her just why Mezrielda had been silently waving her wand around all holiday.
Rebekah made the decision for Primrose, pointing her wand at the grass. Tendrils reached up to wrap around Mezrielda's feet. The spell was weak, though, and Mezrielda merely took two steps forwards, the grass breaking as she went. She shook her head in disappointment, levelling Rebekah with a condescending frown.
Primrose raised her wand again, her bright blue eyes alive with malice. 'You think you're so much better than us,' she taunted, beginning to pace around them. Mezrielda considered Primrose's words for a second, looking into the horizon as she thought, then pursed her lips and gave a few nods, her expression the picture of agreement. Primrose bared her teeth. 'Everyone hated you last year, and now all I hear is how cool, put together, and perfect you are. I bet your daddy's little girl, aren't you? I seem to be the only one at this school who remembers what you're really like. And you!' Primrose turned her wand to point at Bagsy, who tensed, her now spell-sponge-wearing hands ready to fly in front of her and catch whatever Primrose may send her way. 'Poor little B-B-Bagsy! Poor me, so small and innocent! You act like you couldn't hurt a fly, but we both know that's not the case. You're just as bad as her, putting on a face, pretending you're a good person when you're just as flawed and horrid as everyone else,' Primrose said, Rebekah nodding her agreement, fists clenched. 'Stupid squib.' In an instant, Primrose and Rebekah were pulled to the ground by thick tendrils of grass that tied them up like rope. Mezrielda's face was dark with a new, burning rage that had decidedly not been there a moment before.
'Flagrate!' Primrose hissed, and a burning line of fire cut through the grass, emanating from her wand.
'You'll burn yourself!' Bagsy gasped, but Primrose didn't care as she broke free from the spell, her uniform and arms singed from the process.
'See,' she smirked. 'Would a good person lord their superior talent over others like that?'
'She was defending herself,' Bagsy reasoned.
'I wasn't talking about or targeting her when she cast it,' Primrose retorted, and Bagsy realised numbly she was right. She'd been targeting Bagsy, instead. 'She's a model student, aren't you Mezrielda? Yes. A model student. An artificial, fake version of the real thing. Do you even know who you are? Is there anyone below that mask, or is it just more insincerity?'
Mezrielda swished her wand, sending a jet of sharp objects at Primrose. Primrose lunged to the side, hitting the floor clumsily, the sharp objects sinking into the dirt behind her. Primrose turned onto her back and, with an angry incantation, shot something back at Mezrielda. Bagsy's eyes locked onto the projectile like magnets, her hand easily co-ordinating where it needed to be before moving there. It wasn't hard to catch the spell in her spell-sponge glove, and the red beam dissipated across her fingers, absorbed by the material. Bagsy barely had time to register the interest in Primrose's eyes at the gloves before the other girl was, once again, tied up by grass. This time, as Primrose tried to burn her way out, more grass tendrils furiously formed and took the ruined ones' places.
Mezrielda kept her wand pointed at Primrose, deep concentration written across her face, as she leant down to pick up the book she'd been reading before this had all happened and tucked it below her arm. Then, unable to tell Bagsy just what she wanted, Mezrielda grabbed her elbow and pulled her away from the restrained Primrose and Rebekah, grass continuing to grow and form around them as they fought it off. Once they had a little distance, Bagsy and Mezrielda broke into a run, seeking refuge in their nook in the library.
'What was that about?' Bagsy gasped out as they collapsed into their usual chairs. 'I've never seen her so angry before. We've really gotten under her skin, somehow.'
Mezrielda nodded in agreement, swishing her wand and writing in the air once more. We need to be careful she wrote. Just one month. One month on high alert.
Bagsy nodded, narrowing her eyes at the idea. 'Yeah. One month. How hard can that be?'
Primrose took to scowling at them from afar after her clear defeat in the grass. She wasn't above shooting jinxes below tables, or at Mezrielda's back, but with a combination of Bagsy's spell sponge gloves, which she wore almost constantly now, and Mezrielda's knack for countering spells, she didn't get very far with her attacks.
'We should tell a teacher,' Bagsy affirmed one evening, but Mezrielda thought it was too risky while she had a mandrake leaf constantly in her mouth. One accusation, one inspection, could blow her entire plan.
It wasn't until a few weeks later, as Bagsy was getting back into the swing of term time, that things started to go downhill. She was sitting in the library nook alone, as Mezrielda had Arithmancy, and was calculating how much phoenix quell she needed to brew for Winifred and Robin. To avoid them spontaneously combusting, as they had done last term, they now periodically snuck to the Eagle Club room and let their fire loose to get it out of their system. Since then, the phoenix quelling potion hadn't caused them to feel sick or weak to the extent it had before.
Now, though, something else was bothering Bagsy as she worked away. After enough annoyance she looked up from her writing and listened to what was bothering her. She heard distant voices having a heated argument. Realising it was Emmeline and Greenda, Bagsy let out a resigned sigh and stood up, walking towards the noise. She passed Primrose on the way, who shot her a scowl that sent a shiver of fear down her back she tried to ignore, before reaching the library doors. Pressing her ear against it, sure enough, she could hear Greenda and Emmeline arguing outside. It seemed Greenda wanted the books Emmeline had checked out, but Emmeline was refusing to share them.
Bagsy glanced back in the direction of the nook and decided she couldn't be bothered to deal with them, and that they'd probably shut up and go their separate ways soon enough. She sat back down at her table, ignoring the horrid feeling of Primrose's angry eyes on her, and painfully aware of not having Mezrielda at her side to counter any spells her spell-sponge gloves couldn't absorb, and opened a book on Animagi.
She scanned over what she needed to do. First, she needed to clear the sky of clouds come the night of the full moon so that Mezrielda wouldn't have to extend her vow of silence for another month. The thought made her shudder. Then, she had to take the mandrake leaf from Mezrielda, put it into a vial, add one of Mezrielda's hairs, a silver teaspoon of dew that hasn't seen sunlight or touched human feet for seven days (she'd collected some and put it in an isolation container four days ago), and add the chrysalis of a death's-head hawk moth. Teresa's hawk-moth would hatch from its chrysalis in a few days, so that was also sorted. Then, Bagsy would need to place the potion in her secret room and leave it undisturbed until the following night, when Mezrielda would finally become an Animagus.
Bagsy began to check over the instructions to ensure there wasn't anything she was missing, or any methodology she needed to practise further. She'd already checked it hundreds of times, but since Mezrielda's warning that she could become permanently disfigured if it went wrong Bagsy had taken the project far more seriously.
Except, Bagsy struggled to concentrate on her task because the squabbling between Greenda and Emmeline had only grown louder since she'd sat down. She couldn't help but think of herself on her broom, slipping off and falling to the floor with no one noticing the trouble she'd been in. Sure, she'd put herself in that situation, but Greenda, who was meant to be her friend, hadn't even noticed. She'd apologised, and Bagsy understood the issues Emmeline was causing, but hearing them continue to fight only made her feel more and more frustrated.
Angrily slamming the Animagus book down on the table Bagsy stood up and stormed to the library doors, throwing them open and walking into the corridor.
Emmeline was saying, 'You took out the book I needed for my Charms homework and won't let me share it, even though you don't need it yourself! I'll fail without it!'
Greenda huffed. 'Yes, but you deserve it, and you knew I had to give a presentation on healing crystals and yet you took out literally every single book on the subject!'
Bagsy looked at Emmeline, who had five books under each arm, a backpack bursting with more, and a further ten or so crammed into a satchel hanging by her waist. A final one was held awkwardly below her chin, her head tilted at a weird angle to keep it there. 'I was curious,' Emmeline growled back. 'Can't a girl have a hobby?'
'Hobby!?' Greenda gasped in indignation, dramatically gesturing at all the books Emmeline was laden with. 'So, it's just a coincidence you've only now become obsessed with crystals when I need to research them?'
Emmeline looked to the side. 'They're an underappreciated tool.'
'Can you two stop?' Bagsy asked, feeling weary.
'I know that!' Greenda hissed, not noticing Bagsy was there. 'I've been planning a presentation on them for months!'
'Great, you won't need these if you're so prepared, then.'
'It's a big presentation, it's fifty percent of my mark, I need it to be the best it can possibly be!' Greenda reasoned, her arms gesturing around her even more wildly.
Bagsy put her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks angrily, turning her hazel eyes from one girl to the other.
'Your marks are always perfect,' Emmeline retorted. 'You can hardly keep them to yourself. I bet you framed your Hogwarts acceptance letter, you're so hungry for validation.'
'Please, stop,' Bagsy tried again, only to be ignored entirely.
'Loads of people do that,' Greenda snapped back. 'Not that you would know, you're so abnormal you probably think using a knife to stab a piece of paper onto the wall is as good as framing it.'
Emmeline looked offended at that. 'If it gets the job done it gets the job done.'
'You're both so OBLIVIOUS!' Bagsy boomed, finding her voice louder than it had ever been, and stomping her foot. Greenda started in shock, and Emmeline dropped at least half of the books she was carrying.
'Bagsy,' Greenda breathed, finally realising she was there.
'You're so busy trying to hurt each other you're blind to everything that's going on around you!' Bagsy began, a rant bursting out of her mouth. 'Even when your friends are hurt or in trouble or need help, you don't care. You're so caught up in your feud you'll even drive your friends to the verge of exhaustion, to fainting, just to get one over on the other.' Emmeline and Greenda looked at her silently. 'Have you noticed Kat is avoiding you?' Bagsy added snapping her head towards Emmeline. That term, Emmeline had been sitting by the fire alone, Kat stationing herself on the other side of the room to work quietly at her studies. 'Do you even care why? Or do you not notice the empty seat next to you because you're busy glaring at Greenda?'
Emmeline opened her mouth to say something but remained as mute as the patients in St Mungo's.
Bagsy said, 'And yes, Greenda, I know Emmeline always starts it, and I'm on your side about this, and I've been trying to help, but it's only brought me pain. Ford asked me to try and figure out how to reconcile you two, and I've spent I don't know how many nights missing sleep because I couldn't figure out how. You used me as your own personal owl to send hate mail to each other, and then when I fell from my broom your argument was so important you didn't even deign me with a glance. You're ruining Ford's final year, someone who's clearly dedicated his school life to making Hufflepuff Quidditch the best it can be, and you'll sour his memory of Hogwarts if you don't clean up your act. But you'll have to do it without me because, honestly, I'm beyond caring about you feud at this point.' Having talked more in one go than she had her entire life, Bagsy spun on her heels and headed back to her work, not bothering to see if they'd listened to her. She had been telling the truth, she didn't care anymore. It was obvious now to her there was little she could do to resolve the issue.
Her anger vanished when she got back to her book, though, and noticed it had been turned to the next page. The start of the paragraph stared back up at her, explaining how one needed to keep a mandrake leaf in their mouth, and so would have to be silent, for one month before they could become an Animagus. Caught in the spine of the book Bagsy saw a curly, blonde hair.
Slowly, Bagsy looked up and down the aisle. With a few cautious steps she peeked out to the main section of the library. Primrose looked up from where she was sitting and waved tauntingly at her from across the room, a horribly triumphant expression on her face.
Bagsy gulped.
'She knows,' Bagsy rushed out once Potions was finished that evening. She could have told Mezrielda during the lesson, but Blythurst was becoming so unwell he often didn't bother turning up and Bagsy had taken his place recommending what the class should practise. It wasn't until they were leaving that she'd had a chance to speak to Mezrielda alone.
With an alarmed expression, Mezrielda grabbed the side of Bagsy's bulky robe and hauled her into a side corridor, out of view of the other students. What? she wrote in the air with her wand. Primrose?
'Yes, Primrose,' Bagsy confirmed. 'Emmeline and Greenda were arguing, again, so I went to stop them and when I came back I found one of Primrose's hairs in the Animagus book I was reading. When I saw her face she looked awfully pleased with herself. I… I think she's figured out why you're doing this vow of silence.'
Mezrielda put a hand to her face and let air out through her nose in annoyance.
'I'm sorry,' Bagsy offered.
Mezrielda scowled for a little before writing It is alright in the air, followed by I have a plan.
'A plan?' Bagsy asked. Mezrielda made a confirming wave with one of her hands, as if it was obvious that she had a plan. 'One of those plans where you don't feel the need to tell me?' Mezrielda looked smug but after a few moments of pouting from Bagsy she relented. With a roll of her eyes she produced a book from her bag. Bagsy furrowed her brow and took it from her. It was called Magical Memory Modification and its Many Methodologies. 'Looks riveting,' she commented sarcastically. Mezrielda pulled out her wand and gave it a few swishes, before arching a brow at Bagsy. 'What?' Bagsy questioned, not following. Mezrielda shook her head and took the book back. 'Tell me,' Bagsy continued as Mezrielda walked off towards the dining hall for dinner, waving a hand dismissively. Accepting Mezrielda wanted her to work it out for herself, Bagsy let out a sigh.
