Chapter 9: The bewitcher

Lying on the bed in the medical bay, Zak played with the little Golden Snitch he caught before. It was the first time he ever caught something that was such pretty, light and fragile. As he released the snitch, it started to circle his hand until it rested once more on his palm. Never in his life had he felt so happy for such a great success. His team won the game last night just because of his capture of the little snitch. All those bruises and wounds he got due to the little snitch were worth it.

A stubby woman in a white uniform like the nurses in the hospitals reached for the file on the table near his bed. She hardly noticed Zak playing with the little snitch. As she finished filling the details of Zak's file, she inspected Zak's wounds. She kept on nodding her head, and checking the file on her hand. Zak was quite baffled. He had no idea what would the nurse do to him. Will he still has to stay in this silent medical bay alone for a longer time, or he was alright to leave the bay. He was the only patient there and he felt for once lonely and scared without anyone beside him.

"Umm... excuse me—" before he could say another word, the nurse stuck a thermometer in his mouth and pulled it out in a matter of seconds. She just nodded her head once more and gave him a nice smile.

"No fever, no infections. Only a little bruises and nothing more. Okay, you're free to go," the nurse stated.

"Really? I can leave this place?" Zak couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes. Slight injuries don't mean you have to be hospitalized for days. You can go,"

"Finally," he managed to stand up and walked towards the exit with the little snitch in his pocket. He walked slowly towards the Gryffindor's common room where he was given a huge hug by Fiskerton who appeared to be waiting for him.

"Fisk, stop—ouch!" Zak yelled in pain as Fiskerton pressed his wounds hard.

Fiskerton quickly released him and apologized. Komodo and Zon too sent their concerns to him.

"I'm fine... I'll heal in days... You didn't tell mum about this, right?"

The cell phone in Zak's pocket rang. It was Drew Saturday. "Aww man. Fiskerton!"

"Rummy ask and force mi to tell... solly..."

He sighed. Even if Fiskerton didn't confess to mum, she'll know soon too. "Hello? This is Zak,"

"Zak! Sweetie, are you okay? I heard from Fiskerton that you're hurt! Are you seriously injured? Do you have any broken limbs? Do you have fever? Any infections? Do you need me to come to you right away? Do—" His mother started to nag, but he knew his mum was just being worried. Too worried.

"Mum, mum! Slow down! I'm fine. I only got some scratches. You don't have to come to see me, okay?"

"But—"

Came from the other side of the phone was his dad's voice. "See, Drew, I told you our son would be perfectly fine. Magic heals wounds quickly. He only got scratches."

"Yeah, dad's right," Zak supported his dad.

"Fine. But if you need me, just call. I'll be there faster than a rocket," Drew finally calmed down.

"So, back to business. Any updates on the case?" Doc asked.

"Well, we found the Engulfer, but not the flesh-eating flies. How you know someone caught some flies?" Zak replied.

"Dr. Cheechoo was doing experiments on those flies but lost them when a burglar robbed his lab."

"Whoa... now there's a burglar on the loose? Please tell me there's no other cryptids in his lab that were been... stolen."

"Dr. Cheechoo was still doing a report on this. We'll inform you when there are more updates. Bye sweetie," Drew said.

"Bye, mum. Bye, dad," Zak turned off his phone. "Looks like we still have to find those flies soon before someone gets hurt."

Suddenly there was a ruckus outside of the common room. The four of them rushed outside of the common room to find a group of students discussing something. Zak spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione among them.

And Malfoy, the guy who almost killed Zak and himself.

"Harry, what's going on?" asked Zak.

"Zak! You're okay!" Ron cheered.

"Now's not the time for that, Ron," said Harry seriously.

"If it wasn't for you who bewitched the bludger, how could it keep on chasing Zak and not the other players?" Hermione asked Malfoy in a serious tone.

"Watch your mouth, Granger! Don't accuse me with your logic! What makes you think that I bewitched the bludger? Why don't you say that the bludger probably fell in love with that loser brat and want to give him a slobbery kiss?"

Malfoy's supporters laughed heartily like a horse.

"Hey!" Zak walked into the centre of the crowd. "Who you're calling a loser brat?"

"Look! The loser brat just came out from his medical bay. Does your wound hurt? Why don't you go home and cry to your mummy?" mocked Malfoy.

Fiskerton showed his huge fists at the Malfoy jerk, intend to hit him like a punching bag but Harry stopped him. "Fiskerton, calm down."

"In case you haven't notice, MALFOY, I won last night's match fair and square. I think you're the one who should be called a loser!" Zak retorted.

"Watch it, kid, I'll make you regret for what you've just said!"

"Don't you dare deny you have nothing to do with bewitching that bludger!" Hermione shouted.

"What proof you have, Granger?"

"I saw you reading a pocket spell book before the match start,"

"I'm just being a hardworking boy. I have a test to handle the other day. That's not much a good proof,"

"I'm not done yet. And you even read the spell book during the match when Zak had overtaken you in chasing the snitch!"

"During the match? What are you, nuts? How in the world I read a spell book when I was flying on a broom during the game? You're talking stupid nonsense!"

"You wrote the spell on your palm to let you cast the spell easy. I saw it. Don't deny now!"

"You saw it, huh? Did anybody else saw it?" Malfoy suddenly pointed his finger at everyone around him. "Did you? You? Or you?"

No one nodded.

"See, Granger! YOU are the only one who saw ME casting a spell to bewitch the bludger. It feels more like you're making this up and accuse me! Why wouldn't I be right that MAYBE you bewitched the bludger first to chase Zak so that you could frame me!"

"Fine then, you want solid proof, right?" Hermione pulled out a huge chest from the corner. She opened it and inside was the bludgers used in Quidditch. "These are the bludgers used in last night's match."

"Where did you get it? You stole it!"

"No I didn't. I asked permission from Professor Dumbledore," she showed everyone a brown-coloured paper with the official stamp of the school and Dumbledore's signature.

"It's really Dumbledore's signature," Ron murmured.

"W-why he let a snotty girl like you to follow this case? And instead of himself?"

"He'll be here soon due to some matters."

"That old guy believed what you said?"

"Yes. Because he witnessed your crime-doing too."

Malfoy's face was growing pale. He was sweating but not shivering in fear yet.

"Getting scared? He cast a Truth Spell on both of the bludgers. If the bludger is really bewitched, it will fly to its bewitcher."

The bludgers were still in the chest, but after a few moments, the bludgers started to vibrate violently. One of the bludger slowly floated in mid-air in a spooky way that spooked every witness. Malfoy had started trembling like a leaf.

"Come on; show us your bewitcher..." Hermione murmured and had her fingers crossed.

The bludger continued to float stilly in mid-air, not making any movements towards anyone. Not even Malfoy.

"Why isn't it moving?" Ron whispered.

Komodo sniffed and picked up a scent in the air. It growled at the floating bludger angrily.

"What's it, Komodo?" asked Zak. But Komodo kept glaring at the bludger and growled.

"Ha! See! The bludger is not flying towards me! That means I'm not the bewitcher! I didn't bewitch anything!" Malfoy shouted to prove his innocence.

"Something's wrong. This isn't right! Malfoy was supposed to be the bewitcher!" Hermione said furiously.

Suddenly, unexpectedly the bludger exploded into halves. This surprised everyone. The shells of the iron ball fell to the ground in a loud 'plank'. The only thing floating mid-air was a huge group of insects, making buzzing sounds with their feelers. The group of insects combined were almost the size of a normal human.

"Bees?"

Komodo continued to growl louder. Zon started to cry in fear. Fiskerton backed away in a slow pace.

"Not bees..." Zak replied in fear. "Flies. Flesh-eating flies!"