Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Thorned Gauntlet (The Bagsy Chronicles 1)

The Hogwarts Express

The Hogwarts Express juddered and Bagsy Beetlehorn, tripping over her own feet, thudded against a compartment door. August had flown by faster than Bagsy had liked, and she was already on her way to school.

'Watch it!' An annoyed student yelled out at Bagsy, whose belongings had tumbled to the floor.

'S-sorry!' Bagsy spluttered, dropping sharply to her knees and collecting her upended luggage, chirping pet rats and textbooks, old pages having spilled out of them and crowding the thin passageway. She'd barely begun gathering her possessions when a voice caught her off guard.

'Wingardium Leviosa.' Papers, clothes and rats alike rose into the air around Bagsy, whose eyes widened. 'We haven't arrived at Hogwarts yet and someone has already become a nuisance,' the voice scoffed.

Bagsy got to her feet, dusting her trousers before grabbing a handrail, determined not to fall a second time. 'Thank you!' she breathed. An East Asian girl with pale skin, who was a head taller than Bagsy, stared down with icy brown eyes that inspected her with the contempt of a crow. Long, straight black hair reached down the girl's back so that when she sharply looked Bagsy up and down it swished behind her.

'You're blocking the way,' the girl stated.

Bagsy turned hurriedly and saw an annoyed group of what she assumed were Gryffindors, if her sister's information about the house system was correct, tapping their feet impatiently. One bared his teeth. 'Right! Sorry!' Bagsy squeaked, ducking into the nearest empty compartment. She'd been searching for one and cursed that it had taken a tumble to find it. The purpose of finding an empty compartment was to avoid social mishaps, not cause them.

Bagsy's things floated in through the open door and arranged themselves neatly on one of the seats, the luggage closing with a pop around her newly folded clothes. The girl, who put her own luggage on the seat opposite, slid the door shut as the Gryffindors walked past with a grunt or two. Bagsy swallowed, twiddled her thumbs and sat down next to her bag, peeping inside to check everything was there.

'I didn't steal anything,' the other girl snapped, taking her own seat and crossing her legs and arms. Her eyes narrowed. 'You're welcome.'

Bagsy flushed. 'Thank you!' she blurted instinctually, despite already having thanked her.

'You have some interesting stuff.' The sleek-haired girl, flicking her wand this way and that as she spoke, indicated the suitcase at Bagsy's side.

'It's my sister's old potions stuff from when she was at Hogwarts.' Bagsy opened the case and fished out the delicate components of her sister's potion making kit. It looked ancient, was rusted in places and had glass vials in odd shapes and colours. 'I only got it off of her because I traded her my new broomstick.'

Looking Bagsy up and down with her icy brown eyes, the other girl finally seemed to deem her interesting enough to introduce herself to. 'I'm Mezrielda Glint,' she said stiffly, as though introductions came rarely to her.

Bagsy blinked, a thousand tiny potion making pieces balanced in her arms, before extending her hand to Mezrielda. 'Bagsy Beetle-'

'Arresto Momentum!' Mezrielda's wand snapped towards the falling potion kit. A few pieces survived the impact with the help of the spell, but the vials splintered across the floor. 'For merlin's sake...' Mezrielda sighed.

Bagsy shrunk in on herself. 'Sorry...'

'Don't be sorry, be less stupid,' Mezrielda snapped. She put her hands on her hips and stared at Bagsy expectantly. 'Well, go on, then.'

'Go on what?'

'Fix them.'

Bagsy grimaced, 'Uh, sure...' She searched her robe, folded next to her, for her hornbeam wand. Finding it, she pointed it stiffly down at the shattered vials and scrunched up her face, willing with all her might for the items to mend themselves. Nothing happened.