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

Spell-Sponge Gloves

Bagsy decided if she was going to beat the corvid trials she wasn't going to do it the traditional way.

Sparked with a fresh desire to improve, she got back to her usual busy behaviour. She practised hard for quidditch, using the mag-net bat and ball any chance she got, and returned to quidditch practise. She stayed up late whispering spells and moving her wand as precisely as she could. She tinkered with her broom and the other Hufflepuff brooms, trying to cut down the weight of the parts she used so they had better speed, handling and breaking. Bagsy found that she could cut down weight significantly by testing what the absolute minimum a broom needed to work was. One snowy day sh and Mezrielda were standing outside in the snow, Cora watching curiously, as they tried different combinations of parts.

Eventually, she found that if you had a piece of metal connecting some form of magical energy, ideally a flight modulator, to a piece of non-mundane wood, and then brought it all together with a spell, which was where Mezrielda came in, the circuit would allow for a very rudimentary broom. From there, Bagsy worked to see what needed to be added for safety and comfort without sacrificing too much speed. With time she'd get better, and make better brooms, but she was already pretty pleased with what she'd made, as were the rest of the team.

Before training one evening, Bagsy noticed the modified broom she'd given to Emmeline had a mark on the side.

'What's that?' she asked curiously. Someone had carved cowbird on the side of it.

Emmeline grabbed the broom, placing her hands over the word. 'Nothing,' she snapped, with a sharp glare at Greenda, who'd looked up from tying her shoelaces with an odd look in her eyes. 'It's nothing,' she repeated.

'Who did that?' Greenda asked quietly.

'In a way, you did. I bet you think it's funny, deep down,' Emmeline sneered, storming away from them and taking to the skies. Emmeline picked up her usual mocking of Greenda from then on, with a few renditions of 'Greenda, Greenda' when she got the chance. Greenda ignored it, having decided she didn't care if she'd be mocked, she was going to be friends with Bagsy all the same. Bagsy couldn't help feeling relieved, like drinking a glass of cold water after an age of drought, at the idea that Greenda wasn't ignoring her anymore. That, and preparing for the corvid trials, helped her put the beast, and her inevitable doom, from her mind.

One training session, she saw Ford pulling off one of his tricks – kicking up from his broom and jumping through the goal posts, landing on his broom on the other side.

'Ford?' Bagsy asked, flying over.

'Yeah, Bagsy? Great new brooms, by the way, much lighter.'

'Thanks. Uh... I was wondering... it's only...' She twiddled her thumbs, hovering mid-air.

'You want me to teach you the trick, right?' Ford guessed. Bagsy nodded. 'Alright, watch closely.' He performed the trick. 'Now you do it.'

'What?' Bagsy squeaked.

'It's easy. Kick off from the broom like you're going to dive into a pool. Go through the hoop and, using your hands, grab onto the broom when you come out the other side.' Ford swooped down below the hoop. 'Look, I'll catch you if you fall, it's perfectly safe.'

Bagsy wasn't so sure, but Ford kept encouraging her so she flew back a bit and prepared herself. When she flew towards the hoop, she found her nerve breaking just as she got to it, and she simply flew through them instead of jumping.

After the third try Ford decided to call it there. 'Practice jumping up from your broom closer to the ground,' he recommended, 'once you feel confident let me know and we can try it again.'