Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Corvid Trials (The Bagsy Chronicles 2)

The Shadow in the Corner of the Corridor

Horba had been cleaning Hogwarts since before he could remember. The few elves that were employed at Hogwarts stayed in the kitchen, rushing to keep up with the hungry bellies of the students, so cleaning the entirety of the castle was left to Horba.

Horba was very good at cleaning. He had dedicated his life to the polishing of trophies, the buffing of suits of armour, and the dusting of high, hard to reach shelves. He was an artist at work, and very efficient. He rushed around the castle, out of sight and out of mind, constantly upkeeping the old building. By the time he finished his rounds, it was time to begin again. By the time the last room on his route was clean, the first was dirty. It was a never-ending cycle of work, but Horba was committed to it.

Over the summer Horba could relax his efforts. Things grew dirty far more slowly when students weren't there to torment the ancient structure.

Horba was tall for an elf. He was the same height as some of the first-year students, but his head was dwarfed by his large, sagging, grey ears so that he couldn't be mistaken for one. Horba knew he was irreplaceable. He was the only elf who could do what he did – the others were spread too thinly over their food duties – but Horba was able to hold the castle's prestigious appearance up all by himself.

The annoying thing was, however, that this summer, as Horba made his rounds, he found stains from bird droppings, or black feathers, dotted around the place. The occasional caw would echo through the hallways, and Horba would frown. No birds were meant to be in Hogwarts, as far as he was aware. It wasn't as if wild animals were barred by any kind of magic from the castle. Far from it, sometimes the grounds keeper had to deal with the odd stray that wondered in, or a professor would have to confiscate a magical creature, lost in the castle as a result of its curiosity, from the hands of a student who'd adopted it. Even so, it was a rare event, and he was confounded as to why he was finding signs of so many birds.

He didn't think on it much, though. There was cleaning that had to be done and no time to dawdle. Horba was making sure the paintings were hung perfectly parallel to each other, planning on scrubbing the potions room ceiling afterwards, it got awfully dirty very quickly during term time, when he felt a cold creeping up the back of his neck.

The castle was empty, as far as Horba was aware. The professors had returned home for the holidays, even Professor Fitzsimmons had business they needed to attend to, so when Horba turned around he hadn't expected to see a pair of red eyes peering at him through the shadows at the end of the corridor.

Horba stood very still. 'Hogwarts is closed,' he said after a while, but he knew this was no ordinary visitor. Horba wasn't scared, though. Horba had powerful magic. Many foolish a spellcaster had crept into Hogwarts during the holidays only to be kicked out by him. It was one reason why Professor Fitzsimmons trusted him to take care of the building over the summer. Still, something about those red eyes was different.

The red eyes faded into the shadows and Horba sighed. He didn't like kicking people out, but it had to be done. 'You're trespassing,' he said, walking towards the shadows.

A voice filled the space around Horba. 'Hidden in the darkness, an imposter is about. Want to keep your castle clean? Come and kick me out.'

Horba narrowed his large, orb-like eyes. 'Imposter? What do you mean, keep the castle clean? Are you planning on making things dirty?' Concern entered Horba's words.

The voice was quiet.

Horba, determined to stop whoever planned to dirty his castle, walked over to the shadows. The darkness stared at him and Horba found the wall the darkness was falling on wasn't there anymore, only a pitch-black tunnel. Horba walked forward.

'Come and kick me out,' the voice said again.

Horba passed through the darkness and disappeared.

The shadow in the corner of the corridor lightened, the wall appearing again, and the castle was silent.