Primrose was more insufferable than ever before. In potions, she'd deliberately tipped Bagsy's cauldron over, trusting the for once present Blythurst, who was too busy wheezing, to not bother reprimanding her. In transfiguration, Mezrielda's extension work, that Professor Hilkins set her when she'd inevitably finish the main work in half the time it took the other students, was fixing Bagsy's nose, that Primrose had turned into a mushroom.
Herbology was bad enough already, with Bagsy having to navigate the awkwardness she felt around Arice, and Primrose had taken to loudly suggesting couple names for them during their theoretical lessons.
'Barice, anyone?' Primrose laughed. 'No, no, you're right. Agsy is way better.'
When Winifred giggled along Bagsy shot her a betrayed look. She was still brewing phoenix quell for her and her sister. Winifred, clearly remembering this, stifled her laughter and then told Primrose just where she could shove the snub nose she was sticking in places it didn't belong. When Primrose tried to shoot a bold retort back, as she'd taken to doing far more now, Winifred surprised the entire class by comparing Primrose to a boab.
'The more attention that gets put into you, the more bloated your ego becomes,' Winifred reasoned.
'That's… a very accurate analogy,' Bagsy murmured quietly to her after Primrose had, grumbling, returned to her own work.
Winifred shot Bagsy a happy look. 'I used to think Herbology was stuuupid and for stuuuupid people like you.'
'Thanks,' Bagsy muttered to herself.
'But you showed me it was actually really cool, and defo worth my time.' She paused. 'Also like you.'
'I did that?'
'Yeah! When that stamhelia-'
'Stampelia,' Bagsy added too quietly to be heard.
'–bloomed right in front of our eyes in first year all I could think was woooow! How cool! I realised duelling wasn't the ooonly subject worth learning about.' Winifred pouted suddenly. 'But my popple trees last year were just terrible, so I decided this year I'd put a bit more effort in.'
'Well, I'm glad you are,' Bagsy said as she turned back to her own work. The class was learning about twoogles, a flower with hundreds of different possible colours that had incredibly complex requirements to achieve. Growing gold twoogles, which the textbook said were incredibly valuable, took many years of crossbreeding between different coloured versions, and for golden items to be laid around the budding plants.
Arice, thankfully, was so confused by all the complex tables of flower genetics in front of him that he hadn't seemed to notice Primrose's teasing. Bagsy let out an internal sigh of relief.
Primrose left Bagsy alone during Astronomy, at least. At first, she'd pushed Bagsy's telescope over, but Winifred and her Ravenclaw friends had vouched for Bagsy when she'd, stammering and terrified, told Professor Jones exactly why her lens was shattered. Professor Jones' hour-long rant at Primrose was something to behold, and she had learnt not to mess with Bagsy with Jones around. Unlike other teachers, Professor Jones seemed acutely aware of all the ways bullies tried to hide their behaviour from adults. When Primrose offered Bagsy a compliment that was clearly a veiled insult, it took less than a second for Jones to catch on and threaten her with a letter home.
It was subjects that didn't feature Primrose that Bagsy now found the most relaxing. She didn't need to worry about looking over her shoulder. Thaumathletics was one such class and, to make matters more exciting, Professor Kim announced that, finally, they were reaching the magical component of the subject. There was a buzz of chatter around Bagsy as Kim pulled the dayblua charm off the obstacle course behind them.
'I've been timing your progress every lesson,' she said, holding up a stopwatch that seemed to be made of glass and glinted rainbow hues in the warm sunlight. 'At last, I reckon you've hit the targets needed to control thaumaturgy. That's what we call the energy you use in Thaumathletics. Now.' Kim shoved a large bag on the floor over, spilling the contents out. 'Thaumathletics can get a bit dirty and a bit dangerous, so you'll all need to wear full kit today!' Kim clasped her hands together in excitement. 'I've been dying to use these brand-new, full-kit garments for ages – and the day's finally here!'
Maisy, Paloma, Fiona and Killian were standing with Bagsy. They'd all assumed they'd be continuing their group work that lesson, but if they were moving onto magic use, perhaps not. Bagsy didn't feel too surprised when Maisy and Paloma rushed on without her, not even glancing back as they talked to each other about the goggles laid out for them.
When Killian and Fiona looked back at her expectantly, though, something odd fluttered in her heart.
'Come on,' Killian said pleasantly. 'These are our first steps into the world of magical movement. It's pretty metaphorical, if you think about it, especially if we all do this together.'
Fiona rolled her eyes. 'Jeez, back at it again with the metaphors. What is it this time? A symbol of our friendship?'
'Exactly.' Killian smiled. Bagsy grinned up at him and nodded her happy agreement as they moved towards the clothes now spilled hap-hazardly across the grass as students filed through them. There were blue exercise jumpsuits with built in knee, shin, elbow and arm pads. There was also a pile of brown gloves and large, clunky goggles. They were late to the party so Bagsy found herself in a rather baggy set of clothes. At least the gloves fit well, and though she struggled with the goggles at first, Fiona kindly pointed out they had an adjustable strap and helped her tighten them. At least she didn't have a suit too small, like Killian, who was very tall. His long legs had their calves sticking out, and the sleeves stretched over his lanky arms.
'Listen up.' Kim clapped her hands as she spoke to gain their attention. 'I will distribute the thaumaturgy. Once your thaumathletic energies are activated they will remain active for the rest of your life. There is no permanent damage, and whilst they will technically be active forever they will have their strongest affects within the first few hours after you take thaumaturgy. Hence why we don't need to bother with parental permission,' Kim tacked quickly on the end as if it were an afterthought. Bagsy shot an alarmed look at Fiona and Killian, but both were grinning ear to ear in excitement and didn't seem bothered in the slightest. 'Thaumaturgy,' Kim continued, as she took out small vials of clear, water-like liquid with sparkling blue specks and handed them around, 'has a different effect on everyone, as everyone responds to it differently. You should all expect improved strength, speed and agility, but the extent of this, and the side effects it may cause, will vary greatly. Unfortunately, your response to thaumaturgy isn't something you can change, and while you can train to improve yourself, there will be a hard limit on what all of you can do.' She moved her eyes comfortingly over the students gathered before her. 'Remember, Thaumathletics is about having fun and seeing what cool stuff we can pull off. It isn't a competition at this level. It's about self-improvement, and enjoyment, so don't get upset if you find your abilities lacking. Trust me, they can't be worse than what I can do!' Kim laughed a happy laugh, that betrayed no hint of bitterness.
Bagsy looked down at the vial Fiona was holding out to her, passing another one to Killian. Taking it, she tried not to think about the likelihood of it having no effect on her whatsoever. What magic could she hope to bring forward when she'd never shown much of it before? Will a gloomy realisation, Bagsy understood that perhaps Thaumathletics would be just like any other spell-casting based subject she'd tried her hand at before.
Kim said, 'Everyone got their thaumaturgy? Don't spill it, now, this stuff is expensive! Okay. One, two, three and… bottoms up! No, not literally, Itsuki,' she added, seeing the handstand he'd swiftly adopted.
Fiona and Killian downed their vials instantly.
'Oh my!' said Paloma, who'd finished her own potion and was standing a few paces ahead of them with Maisy. She was looking down as flowers sprouted wherever her feet touched the ground. She began laughing as she ran about with the grace of a gazelle, waves of flowers forming in her wake.
Meanwhile, the silver strands in Maisy's hair had lit up and were glowing a bright colour. 'That's very cool,' Maisy said, looking at Kim and drawing her attention to her hair. Kim nodded encouragingly.
'I don't feel any different,' Fiona murmured, looking at her hands in confusion.
'Are you kidding?' Killian asked incredulously as he crouched down and placed his hands on the ground. 'I feel incredible!' As if he'd been doing it his whole life, Killian let out a pulse of force from his palms that sent him shooting up into the air with a wail of exhilaration. Bagsy's mouth shot open in surprise and she took a few fearful steps backwards. Killian flew up, hovered, and then fell back down. With a yelp he collided with the ground, just managing to soften his landing with a roll.
'It's a metaphor.' He smirked at Fiona. 'For how high I'm going to rise in life.'
'And how far you'll fall,' Fiona joked back.
Knees knocking together, Bagsy looked down at her still undrunk portion of thaumaturgy. Around her, students were jumping twice as high as usual, or finding the soles of their feet had become slippery like ice so that they could slide around as if skating. Jon was giggling like a maniac at Itsuki whose mohawk had now become capable of supporting his own weight and was doing a headstand on only his hair. The black hairs of his mohawk walked him along as the blood rushed to his upside-down face.
With a gulp, Bagsy forced herself to drink the thaumaturgy. It tasted like bottled electricity, and a shiver ran down her spine at its sensation. 'Yuck,' she mumbled to herself, wiping her mouth and putting the empty vial in the bucket Kim had left out. Then, like the sudden snap of acceleration, Bagsy felt a thrill course through her body. She looked down at her hands and swore that, for a second, her skin was shifting colour and shape. After a moment, it was back to normal, but the hairs on her arms were standing on end.
'Look at your hair!' Fiona gasped. Bagsy turned to look at her and felt, with the movement, that her brown bushy hair was frizzled out and above her, as if filled with static. 'You look like you're underwater!' Fiona added. Killian nodded his agreement.
'I feel like I've been struck by lightning,' Bagsy responded numbly, looking down at her hands again, feeling her hair flowing above her as she did.
Kim had walked over to the three of them as she made her way around the class, checking in on each of the students. 'Let's see what we have here,' she said pleasantly, her sleek plaited hair swishing as she turned from Fiona to Killian to Bagsy. 'We already have one obvious effect,' she laughed, gesturing at Bagsy. 'Your hair is floating all around you. It's like you're hanging upside down.'
'I feel… odd.' Looking at her feet, Bagsy wondered if there had been any other change besides her frazzled hair.
'Try and run the course, you three,' Kim suggested, gesturing to where other students were already throwing themselves over hurdles, or tangling their limbs in the ropes and ladders, or slipping eagerly from one floating monkey bar to the next. It looked a thousand times more chaotic than it had ever done before. Flowers were growing wildly over anything Paloma's feet touched, Itsuki had managed to get his hair stuck on the grooves of the climbing wall, and Hamley, a tanned Slytherin boy, couldn't pull his feet apart, which seemed to have become magnetized. 'Don't worry!' Kim was calling to them. 'By the end of the lesson you'll be able to deactivate the effects of thaumaturgy on command.' She glanced back at Bagsy, Fiona and Killian. 'Go on, try the course.'
Bagsy would have told Professor Kim she was quite fine standing just where she was, thank you very much, if the sudden speed of Killian and Fiona racing for the course hadn't bowled her over. She landed face first in the grass with thud.
'Ah, yes, that can happen with some people,' Kim said sympathetically, offering a hand to help Bagsy stand up. Then, with a proud expression, she continued. 'I've never had the chance to say this, but I wanted to let you know that I'm glad you decided to start playing quidditch last year. It's clear you have a lot of potential for the sport.'
Bagsy looked first at Professor Kim's outstretched hand, and then at the professor herself. She accepted the help and stood to her feet, but as her palm touched Kim's, a small electric shock passed between them. Kim instinctively retracted her hand in surprise.
'That's probably a result of the thaumaturgy,' Kim explained, looking at Bagsy in interest. 'Reactions come in all shapes and sizes, and the oddest of varieties.'
Bagsy, for the third time that lesson, looked down at her hands as she got to her feet, on her own this time. 'You really think I'm good at quidditch?' she checked hopefully. Kim was the flight instructor, she knew about these things, after all.
Kim nodded with a smile, her eyes glinting with excitement. 'Sure do. I can't wait to see how you'll be playing in a few years' time. Now go on, give that race course a try. It's a piece of cake compared to quidditch.'
Bagsy nodded, steeling herself against her nerves, and tensing her legs and facing towards the race course. It was a nice view, overlooking the not too distant lake. Bagsy tried to focus on the pleasant scenery for a moment, calming herself. 'Alright,' she said to herself, and then kicked off.
The wind picked up, as if her weather machine had conjured a storm, and the world passed by her in a blur. Bagsy let out a petrified wail and then slammed into water. It slugged around her, slowing her movement, before she flopped onto her front. Her limbs came into contact with the muddy floor of the lake, and she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, spluttering in the cold liquid. She looked up and around herself, her hair now falling in her face, weighed down by the water. She was on her hands and knees in the shallow shore of Hogwarts lake, the waves lapping around her arms and legs. Spitting out salty water, she fumbled to her feet, her jumpsuit weighed down heavily by the liquid and her shoes sticking in the sludgy floor. Clumsily, she wobbled her way back onto dry land, shaking out her arms, a confused expression on her face. The sudden shock of cold had drained all the energy and electricity she'd been feeling out of her.
She looked up and saw her fellow classmates rushing over the grass towards her. Some looked shocked, others as confused as she felt, and some impressed. They were all much further away than Bagsy thought they should be. There was no way she'd travelled so far in such a short time, was there?
Killian reached her first, his speed unnaturally fast. 'Bagsy! What on earth was that?' he exclaimed, stopping at her side. Bagsy looked from him to Fiona, who was next to arrive, to the rest of the class.
Professor Kim was the last to get there, much slower without thaumaturgy aiding her movement. 'Give her space, everyone!' she ordered. 'Uh, go back to the race course, and, uh–' she stumbled over her words, looking at Bagsy and then the disturbed surface of the lake behind her, '–continue with your training.' When no one responded, Kim sucked in an uncertain breath. 'Go on! Go!' she tried again, forcing authority into her voice.
Paloma spoke up, ushering Maisy, Fiona and Killian away. 'You heard the professor!'
Itsuki nodded along. 'Yeah, let's go see if my hair is stronger than Paloma's flowers!' he added in a friendly tone, shooting Bagsy a comforting smile as he, and the rest of the class, meandered back to the obstacle course with conspiratorial glances at her.
'Oh, goodness,' Kim said quietly to herself once they were alone. Bagsy stood, shoulders hunched and shuddering in her wet clothes. 'Oh! Right,' Kim mumbled, finding her wand and quickly drying Bagsy with a spell. 'Don't want you to catch a cold, huh?'
'What happened?' Bagsy asked in confusion. 'One minute I was there, and the next I was in the water…'
'I never thought I'd have one in my class…' Kim trailed off, putting a hand thoughtfully on her chin and looking passed Bagsy. 'They're so rare…'
'Professor?'
Kim clapped her hands together, startling Bagsy, a mad exuberance spreading across her face. 'The levels of thaumaturgy you possess, Bagsy, would be labelled under my official thaumaturgy table as abundant.'
Bagsy blinked up at Professor Kim. 'A-abundant?'
'Yes.'
'What does that mean?'
'Exactly what the word means,' Kim explained. 'It describes your level of thaumaturgic energy. You have abundant thaumaturgic energy.'
Bagsy nodded. 'Right, but… what does abundant mean?'
It was Kim's turn to blink at Bagsy. 'Oh! I see. Well, it means lots. Like. You have a lot of energy. I have never seen someone able to get from there–' she pointed at the obstacle course, which was very far away, '–to here–' she pointed at the lake, '–so quickly. I thought your hair standing on end and the small electric shock was just a result of your reaction to thaumaturgy, but I reckon…' Kim's hand was back on her chin as she thought deeply. 'I reckon you simply have so much energy in you that when activated it needed to spread out as much as it could.'
'Oh…' It was all Bagsy could say. She didn't know what to think. And then, amazingly, the information sank in. She smiled. 'Does that mean I'm going to be really good at Thaumathletics?'
Kim raised an eyebrow. 'You have the natural ability for it, clearly,' she admitted. 'But it'll be difficult to control that much energy. It's a case of if you have the patience to practise.'
'I see.' Bagsy's grin only grew wider. 'That shouldn't be a problem, Professor.'
It took her until she was back in her room, and until her constant ear-to-ear beaming was beginning to make her face ache, that Bagsy stopped in her tracks and frowned, for she had realised something.
Hogwarts lake was decidedly not meant to be salty.
