She was being dragged back through the door of light, along the cool, stone floor of the dark void beyond it, and back into her own mind.
With fluttering eyelids, Primrose woke up. She was lying on the floor, her back pressed against the dirt, her blonde curls obscuring her vision. She just made out a face looking down at her in abject horror – a face with severe features and intimidating brown eyes, all curtained by sleek black hair.
Her memories rushed back to her – she'd been trying to stop Primrose from drinking the potion, and Mezrielda had cast obliviate, and then something jolted through Primrose with the force of lightning; she wasn't Primrose at all. She was Bagsy Barciry Beetlehorn.
Bagsy sat up suddenly, her shoulders stiff, realising that for at least a handful of moments she had genuinely believed she was Primrose Vinski. Diving into the other girl's memories must have really messed with her head, she decided, a shudder creeping up her back. She felt a horrid itch below every inch of her skin at the thought. 'Mezrielda?' Bagsy murmured, wrapping her arms around herself as she looked up. Mezrielda was looking at her, slack jawed and still. As Bagsy came back to herself she slowly recalled how to read the minute expressions on Mezrielda's face and was concerned to find the wide-eyed dread, stiff shock and gloomy resignation of defeat mingled into one unpleasant concoction of a gaze. 'Primrose!' Bagsy gasped, turning abruptly to look behind her. Primrose was lying on the floor next to her, facing the other way, her blonde curls spread around her head like a dirtied halo. Was that what had Mezrielda so concerned? Her heart in her throat, Bagsy reached forward and took a gentle hold of Primrose's shoulder. 'Hey, Primrose, wake up…' She shook her softly, turning her onto her back. Bagsy let out a gasp and scurried backwards. Mezrielda's hands fastened below her armpits and helped her get unsteadily to her feet. 'No, no, no,' Bagsy breathed out in horror. 'No, no, oh no, no…!'
The right half of Primrose's face was covered in green and brown scales. They reached over her nose, which was now two slits, over half her mouth, and down her neck, spreading out over her collar bones. They reached up, stealing half of her forehead away, one of her eyebrows entirely missing amongst the mess of scales. A third of her scalp was now scales, her blonde hair gone from that area. Her right ear was an indent and a hole in the side of her head, and her hands were scaled with elongated fingers that ended in sharp claws. With a sudden noise, Primrose sucked in a breath, revealing sharp teeth and a flickering, forked tongue.
'Oh no!' Bagsy choked out before Mezrielda's hand was firmly over her mouth, stopping her from saying anything else. Where Mezrielda's palm was partly shaking, Bagsy's whole body was quaking in shock, and if it weren't for the hand over her mouth she was sure she'd have begun to wail.
With a sudden snap, Primrose's eyes opened. They were mismatched, the left one its usual brilliant blue, the right a frosted green with a black line in place of a round pupil.
Bagsy stared, terrified, as the disfigured Primrose looked around. She seemed confused, her eyes misty, as if she wasn't sure where she was or who she was.
Mezrielda, standing behind Bagsy, tensed. Bagsy felt her turn, but she was unable to drag her eyes off of the now half-snake Primrose. 'The professors,' Mezrielda murmured in answer to what she was looking at. 'I can see their lit wands through the trees. They'll be here soon.' Sure enough, when Bagsy forced herself to spare even a third of her attention to something else she could hear movement and voices. 'We need to move,' Mezrielda affirmed, shifting her hand from Bagsy's mouth to her elbow, holding onto her reassuringly. 'Don't think about it, just move.' And then Bagsy was being pulled away from Primrose and from the clearing. She didn't stop looking over her shoulder until they were so deep in the trees that she couldn't make out the clearing. 'She won't remember we had anything to do with this,' Mezrielda explained, her voice cold and blank, like a robot shutting down. 'I erased those memories from her.'
'R-right,' Bagsy managed quietly.
'She'll think she did that to herself.' Mezrielda hesitated. 'In a way, she really did. We tried to warn her.'
Bagsy had never appreciated Mezrielda's use of the word 'we' more, but it felt hollow; she'd had a moment of intense arrogance, and now Primrose would have a lifetime of disfigurement. There was no excuse for Bagsy's actions. This was all her fault. Fitzsimmons had told her not to mess with magic, and she'd failed to take their warning seriously.
With a feeling of a house collapsing around her, Bagsy began to sniff and whimper and, despite feeling like she'd grown beyond such childish things recently, cried. Tears spilled down her face as she barely managed to drag in breath after panicked breath. 'What have I done?' she was numbly aware of saying, but it was so warped by her grief that there was no way Mezrielda could understand it. All Mezrielda did was move her hand down from Bagsy's elbow to her palm, wrapping her fingers with hers and squeezing tightly as she led her through the forest.
The feeling of being watched was returning as they approached the edge of the forest. Bagsy was just barely aware that they'd taken a different route to avoid the teachers, and as she cried her feelings were joined by fear, who seemed just as willing to party as her misery was, mixing into a potion of distress and horror.
She'd disfigured Primrose. Something was watching her. They were in the forbidden forest. The professors might be looking for them. It was all piling up in Bagsy's head. It was a miracle she hadn't turned into a puddle of tears by the time they cleared the tree line and were rushing towards the castle. Bagsy swore the branches had really been long, clawed hands. Whatever they were, they were far behind them, now.
'Quickly, now,' Mezrielda instructed firmly, leading Bagsy in through the entrance by the greenhouse. 'Can you get yourself to your room?' Bagsy looked up at her. She couldn't move her body in response, she felt like she was watching herself from very far away. Mezrielda pursed her lips and frowned. 'Alright, I suppose I'll have to get you there,' she muttered ruefully. 'Let's be swift about this, Bagsy. We can't be caught.'
The castle moved by in a blur. Mezrielda's head was turning this way and that, checking for professors and ghosts and paintings now asleep. At one point she shoved Bagsy into a classroom, following closely herself, as the Bloody Baron came floating around the corner. Somehow, he hadn't seen them, and hovered by the room they were in, his chains clinking ominously against each other, before moving on. Mezrielda let out a relieved breath, before guiding Bagsy, who was too numb to respond, out of the room. Bagsy barely registered it when they were finally standing in the Hufflepuff common room.
'Mezrielda,' she said suddenly, her mind not working right. 'You mustn't knock the incorrect rhythm on the barrel or you'll be drenched in-'
'I know, Bagsy,' Mezrielda cut her off, sounding on edge herself. Bagsy nodded quietly. 'Go to bed – we'll talk in the morning…' With that, Mezrielda turned and moved towards the tunnel leading out of the common room. In the shadow of the passageway, Bagsy saw her friend's silhouette shrink into that of a bird. Silently, Mezrielda took off and flew down the corridor and towards her own room.
Her head hanging low in shame, Bagsy forced herself to walk to her own room, and slide into bed.
Bill woke her the next morning, nudging her cheek gently as sun streamed in through the window. Bagsy grumbled in protest, finding her bed far too comfortable, but then the image of Primrose's face flashed in her eyes and Bagsy was sitting up, breathing heavily. The weight of all of Primrose's memories she'd peered at poured over her like a scalding shower and Bagsy was throwing herself out of bed, tangling with the sheets and collapsing to the floor with a thud. 'Oooww…' she moaned, rubbing the back of her head. Bill tilted her little rat head at Bagsy curiously, twitching her whiskers in amusement. Her muzzle was almost entirely grey. 'Don't look at me like that, old girl,' Bagsy mumbled, gathering herself slowly, yawning as she went. 'You have no idea what happened last night.'
The haze of sleep that hung over her was only fought back by the tide of anxiety pulsing through her veins. She could only guess what had happened to Primrose after she and Mezrielda had left. The professors would have found her and seen what she'd become. Primrose herself would think she had done it on her own and had single-handedly failed the Animagus spell so badly she'd turned herself into some snake-beast.
The anxiety mounted to a tsunami wave as Bagsy approached the great hall and heard the general murmurs of the students. She ducked her head low, closing in on herself timidly, as she walked to her usual spot and sat down. The great hall was alive with animated chatter – it was the start of a new school week, and though many students looks dreary and ready for it to be over already, just as many were chipper and excited to learn. The latter were mainly first years, the former almost entirely seventh years.
'Good morning,' Mezrielda said curtly as she sat neatly down next to Bagsy, who nodded her response. 'Have you seen her?'
'Not yet,' Bagsy answered as she picked out some toast, jam and pumpkin juice, trying to tell herself she was hungry, even if the thought of eating right then was very unpalatable.
'No, I mean, have you seen her?' Mezrielda rephrased, gesturing down the Hufflepuff table. Bagsy turned as she poured out her pumpkin juice and gulped at the sight. It looked far worse in the harsh morning light rushing through the large gothic windows of the great hall. The right side of Primrose's face gleamed with brown and green scales, patterned like the body of a snake. The slitted pupil of her right eye, and regular one of her left, darted from side to side, her clawed fingers drumming on the table. But then, Bagsy took in the rest of Primrose, and saw the exact expression the mirror had plastered on her face in the memory. Primrose was grinning ear to ear, showing of her now pointed teeth and forked tongue, an arrogant air in her posture as she reclined confidently back in her chair. If snakes basked in the sun, Primrose was basking in the attention.
'What happened?' Rebekah was asking, gaping at her.
Primrose shrugged as if she were merely wearing a new set of clothes. 'It was time for a change of appearance.' She turned one of her clawed hands back towards herself, inspecting the dangerously sharp fingertips. Logan was spluttering and stumbling over his words in shock. 'Cat got your tongue, Logan?' Primrose asked snidely. 'Maybe you should grow ears and a tail. At least then you'd have an excuse for your pathetic speech.'
'H-hey! You know I'm self-conscious about that.'
'Well, get self-confident about it,' Primrose shot back. 'I'm tired tip-toeing around it. Your lisp isn't going away. Change it or embrace it. That's what I did with my face.'
Paloma leaned towards the trio, inviting herself into their conversation. Curiously, Maisy Jewel was sitting next to Paloma, and turned to watch the interaction. 'You mean you did this on purpose?' Paloma asked.
Primrose folded her arms and smirked, closing her eyes as if she were schooling five-year olds. 'Of course,' she breathed tiredly. 'Look how cool I am now.' Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she jerked towards Paloma, baring her teeth and hissing. Paloma jumped and let out a yelp of alarm, falling backwards and onto Maisy, sending the both of them tumbling from the bench and onto the floor in a heap of limbs and confusion. Primrose cracked up laughed, clapping her scaled hands together in malicious glee. 'See? Couldn't do that as effectively before, now, could I?'
'That was mean!' Paloma complained as she and Maisy disentangled themselves and got up. 'Eww, now I have orange juice all over me.'
Maisy was glaring at Primrose. 'I don't believe anyone would do that to themselves on purpose.'
'It's good that you believe what you say,' Primrose murmured, side-eyeing Maisy. 'No one else does.' Primrose's snake eyes slid off Maisy and down to the table, latching threateningly onto Bagsy. With a yelp, Bagsy turned and huddled towards Mezrielda, grabbing onto her robe in fear. She heard Primrose bark in laughter as her face turned red in embarrassment. 'S-sorry,' Bagsy murmured to Mezrielda, letting her go, her hands shaking badly.
Primrose rested her head on one of her weaponised hands. 'This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.'
'What did the professors say?' Rebekah asked as Paloma and Maisy left for the Slytherin table in a huff.
'I have detention for a long time,' Primrose said. 'And I had to have a long and boring conversation with Mr Mortem, that old guy from the Ministry. But it can't all go perfectly. That would make life boring.'
Bagsy shook her head to herself as she went back to her breakfast, returning to the task of pouring herself pumpkin juice. 'I hate this,' she said quietly to Mezrielda.
'It could be worse,' she countered. 'How would you feel if Primrose was distraught over her new face?'
Bagsy paused, looking at Primrose for a long time. She was grinning viciously at Elijah, a second year, as she poked him in the shoulder with her claws and hovered his food out of his reach with her magic. Elijah seemed terrified of her. 'I'd feel pretty bad,' she lied, admitting to herself that at least a small part of her would take some sick enjoyment in Primrose looking distraught, even if Bagsy hated that fact.
'I… also feel perhaps a tad guilty,' Mezrielda admitted, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. Bagsy started and looked at her. 'Don't misunderstand me,' she corrected hurriedly, 'I feel no remorse towards Primrose. It is simply the fact that you asked me not to obliviate her and I did so anyway.' Bagsy blinked at Mezrielda, floored that this was happening. She pinched her arm to check she wasn't dreaming. 'Alright, alright,' Mezrielda grumbled. 'Hear me out. I'm not saying I would act differently if I could go back. I had to obliviate her. If she told a teacher and I was placed in trouble it could jeopardize my position with my family. That being said, I shouldn't have placed myself in a position where I had to risk something so important or do something you were so set against.' She let out a breath after finishing. Her words sounded practised and Bagsy wondered if Mezrielda had spent all night rehearsing it.
Bagsy frowned, 'But if you shouldn't have put yourself in a position where you could get in trouble, why did you spend this whole year trying to become an Animagus? Becoming an unregistered Animagus, or even trying to do so, is against the law…'
Mezrielda fidgeted in her seat, tucking some of her sleek black hair behind an ear. 'I enjoy spending time–' She cut herself off, mulling her words over. 'I enjoy spending time improving my transfiguration, among other reasons. Besides, I've always wanted to be able to shapeshift. It's incredibly useful and, I'll admit, it's highly enjoyable.'
'I really appreciate you apologising for wiping Primrose memory, Mezrielda,' Bagsy said, understanding Mezrielda's mini speech for what it was. 'But, honestly? I don't think you owe me an apology.'
Now it was Mezrielda's turn to look shocked. 'Oh? How so?' Adding, quickly, 'and it wasn't an apology, don't be absurd, I don't apologise. It was just… an expression of… rational regret.'
'I put you in that situation by letting Primrose figure out our plan, and then letting her get my spider gloves and slippers, and then by even considering for a second that I could speed the process of becoming an Animagus. This was all my fault.'
'That's not true,' Mezrielda disagreed hotly. 'The fault lies squarely on Primrose's shoulders.'
Bagsy pushed on. 'My point stands, you don't owe me an apology. I thought about it and… you only meddled with her memories because you were scared and felt you had to,' she explained, cringing internally at herself. She, unlike Mezrielda, had meddled with Primrose memories because of her own curiosity and selfishness. Unlike Mezrielda, she had no excuses for her own actions. It was with a sudden movement that Bagsy then turned to look over at the Slytherin table. Within seconds her eyes landed on who she'd been looking for; Tod Alden.
'What is it?' Mezrielda asked.
'I think it's me that owes someone an apology,' Bagsy explained, getting to her feet, the shaking returning to her hands. Mezrielda groaned in annoyance behind her but didn't stop her.
'Tod?' Bagsy said timidly as she approached the Slytherin table, her heart in her throat. Tod eyed her in distrust. He said nothing. 'Can I talk to you later?'
'We have a private study after lunch,' Tod answered simply, looking like someone standing on cracking ice with no shore in sight.
'Great. I'll come and find you then,' Bagsy affirmed with all the authority of a bagel.
'Sure.'
'I'm going to go… now…' Bagsy added, slowly backing away from the Slytherin table.
'I can see that,' Tod deadpanned.
Turning around sharply, Bagsy retreated back to her seat, sitting down with a deep sigh. 'That was so hard…' she groaned, banging her head on the table.
Mezrielda snorted in amusement. 'I won't ask what that was all about. I doubt you'd tell me, anyway.'
'Sorry,' Bagsy mumbled into the table, her hair hiding her face. She felt a hand pull it back and glanced to her side to see Mezrielda smirking down at her.
'I'd prefer if you told me, naturally, but don't worry about keeping secrets. I imagine everyone in this room has at least one.'
Bagsy lifted her head and raised her eyebrows. 'What's your secret, then?'
'Ah.' Mezrielda cringed. 'Of course, I have none. I simply meant everyone besides myself.'
Bagsy grinned cheekily. 'I'll find out what your secret it.'
'I'd really rather you didn't.'
'Aha! So, you do have a secret?'
'I did not say that.'
'Did too!'
It was with taunting whispers that Bagsy and Mezrielda passed the time, paying little attention to Professor Starrett's teachings during their first two lessons of the day, double Charms, and instead focussing on the subject of what Mezrielda's secret could be whilst Mezrielda vehemently denied having any such thing. Keeping up an odd trend Starrett, once again, didn't pick on them.
Mezrielda reasoned that she must have been one of the professors who'd found Primrose last night. 'I reckon she's not an individual who takes well to sleep deprivation,' she said importantly. 'Her exhaustion is the only explanation I can conceive for her tame treatment of us upon this day.'
'At least she doesn't use bigger words when she's tired,' Bagsy protested weakly.
'You should be expressing your gratitude towards me. I'd argue your vocabulary has grown thrice its original size since you were graced with meeting me.'
'Yeah, and my patience shrunk like a thousand times or something.' Bagsy received an elbow to the ribs for that. It had been worth it, and her victorious grin made it obvious to the annoyed Mezrielda.
'I suppose even if your vocabulary were increased thrice, it would still be nought. Three times zero is still zero, after all.'
It was Bagsy's turn to elbow Mezrielda, then.
Lunch went by far too quickly for Bagsy's liking and, before she knew it, Mezrielda was waving her goodbye as she headed off for Arithmancy, and she was walking to the library, and to her doom.
Tod wasn't hard to find; he'd taken the liberty of waiting for her in the library nook. 'So,' he said casually, his feet kicked up on the table as he leant back in the window seat, his dark hair falling in his eyes. 'You've decided to stop avoiding me.'
'I want to say two things,' Bagsy began, structuring her words like an essay she was writing for Astronomy. Somehow, it made it easier to get through it. 'Firstly, I want to say I forgive you for what you did. You know, with my memories and everything. It was a big mess and… I forgive you. Yeah.' She nodded, swallowing hard as Tod looked at her coldly. 'Secondly,' she breezed on, envisioning writing her words on a scroll as she approached the correct number of inches before she could hand in her homework. 'I wanted to apologise for my reaction. For avoiding you. I didn't consider what it might be like to be you, to have this thing you need to hide. Yeah. I-I'm sorry.'
The look on Tod's face hadn't been what she'd expected. Naively, she'd envisioned that once she'd forced out the words and risked his wrath, Tod would come around and smile, and say they were friends once again and everything was perfectly fine. Instead, he was sneering as if there was a foul taste in his mouth. He pulled his feet of the table and leant forward in his seat, placing a clenched fist on the table. 'What do you want, Bagsy?'
Bagsy looked at him dumbly. 'Uuhhh…'
'You always want something. A favour. A memory wipe. A boat. So, go on, spit it out. What do you want from me this time?'
'Tod, I don't know what you're talking about,' Bagsy tried, her shoulders hunching up in fear.
'Stop beating around the bush,' Tod said, getting more frustrated with each word. 'I don't need convincing. I'll do it. I'll help you. Then we can be through with this charade and go back to ignoring each other.'
Bagsy seized up and felt tears prick her eyes. 'Is that all you think our friendship is?' she managed after some ugly sniffing.
Tod was crinkling his nose at the sight before him. 'Stop that. I didn't want you to cry. Look, you don't need to cry, it's just the way it is between us. You need something, and I do it. I need something, and you do it. Nothing more. I've come to accept that, and you should too. It's how the world works.'
'I won't!' Bagsy protested. From the other corner of the library, the young Librarian shushed loudly in their direction. Bagsy wiped her nose and eyes with her sleeve, sniffling and breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself. She moved towards the table and sat down, placing her hands in her lap and looking down at them while she talked. 'We've been through so much together. You helped save me and Mezrielda from the blood eyed beast, and then you brought Mezrielda back to Hogwarts when her parents were keeping her at home, and then you helped save me from drowning last year.'
'Yes.' Tod nodded. His words seemed like thorns in his mouth; painful to say. 'But you saved me from falling as the steps collapsed, and you helped return my silver charm powers. It's transactional, Bagsy.' He sounded utterly miserable as he spoke. He said, softly, 'All things are.'
'Friendship isn't.'
Tod looked unconvinced. 'You mean to tell me that, out of the blue, you've decided to forgive me without any ulterior motives?'
'Yes!'
'Ssh!' the young librarian hissed, having walked over to them.
'Sorry,' Bagsy sniffed. The woman shook her head and, muttering to herself, walked away, books floating along behind her.
Tod hadn't taken his eyes off of Bagsy. 'You mean that.'
Bagsy nodded. 'It's as I said. I realised how you must have been feeling. I'm still not happy with what you did – I spent so much time preparing that potion for you, I trusted you, and then you… well you betrayed me. But I think I get it now. You didn't want people knowing about your powers, so you decided not to take the risk and took my memories of them.'
Looking regretful, now, Tod shook his head. 'It's not like that,' he said in annoyance. 'I didn't want to touch your memories, but my parents would kill me if they knew the things I'd let you find out. They'd kill me and bring me back to life and kill me again if they knew I chose to let you keep that information. That's why I let you remember what I'd done and remember that I have a power at all, because I didn't really want to meddle with your mind in the first place, but I couldn't let you keep the information on how it works, or how to brew a potion to combat it.'
Bagsy's eyes widened. 'Wouldn't your parents be mad about you for doing that, though? Letting me even remember that you have a power?'
Tod stuttered, nodded, then looked out the window quietly. 'So, your forgiveness… your apology… they're free?'
'One hundred percent.'
Tod frowned, looking conflicted. His chin even trembled a bit.
'Don't you go crying, too,' Bagsy joked, wiping her eyes a final time as her breathing returned to normal. 'That's my signature move.'
Tod laughed once and shot her his crooked smile. 'So, we're friends, then?'
Bagsy nodded, smiling at him, and then felt something open in her mind as Tod reached a finger out and tapped her forehead. 'Did you just-?'
'I'm trusting you, Bagsy,' he said gravely. 'Don't make me regret this.'
'I wouldn't dare!' Bagsy affirmed, feeling her memories slowly return to her like sand falling through an hourglass. Tod's power, how it functioned, how to brew silver cleanse and how to brew the potion that returned the ability to Tod all settled back into place. It was all back in her mind, in all its glory. It felt like remembering what you'd walked into a room for – incredibly satisfying.
'And don't tell Mezrielda.'
'You can trust her, too,' she tried to convince him. Tod shot her a look like death and she held up her hands. 'Alright, I won't tell her.'
