Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Vampire Affairs (The Bagsy Chronicles 4)

A Good Old Rant

A minotaur stomped down the carriages of the Hogwarts Express; Bagsy. She was fuming and her footsteps were filled with bullish anger. She'd failed to sleep, the revelation that her sister was really her mother had seen to that. She'd given up on sleep and snuck from the house before anyone could stop her. She'd felt the familiar weight of loneliness when she'd reached platform nine and three-quarters without incident. No one had followed her, no one had noticed she'd gone missing. Bagsy guessed no one really cared.

In a strop that had been worsening by the second, she had sat on her trunk, Eldritch sleeping peacefully in his cage to her side, while she'd waited for the Hogwarts Express. The sun had only just risen when she'd settled in a corner of the platform, and she'd seen the change from a vacant space of brick, iron bars and archways to a swirl of steam, robes, gibbering children and sparks of wayward wands.

When the train had arrived it was a gash of red through the picture and it called to Bagsy, who couldn't deny the misery weighing in her stomach at the fact that no one, not Florentchia, not Himble, and not Bontie had shown up looking for her at the place they must realise she'd run to.

Now, Bagsy was walking down the train, bags dragging behind her, with hunched shoulders and a face like thunder. With a grunt of frustration that it had taken her so long to find an empty carriage, Bagsy barged into the human-free space and dumped her stuff on the seat next to her. She placed Eldritch's cage far more softly.

Huddling up next to the window, she pulled her knees to her chest, hugging herself, and watched the crowd on the platform.

The hands of a massive clock sticking out from the wall ticked by. Families came and went, mothers, fathers and parents brought their children to the platform, helping them with their belongings, ruffling their hair, straightening their robes or checking over their belongings.

One father fussed over a son so overloaded with gear that Bagsy reckoned he could hike to Hogwarts and still have supplies to spare. Another parent threw fire-whizzes at a stone wall with their daughter, both in hysterics at the sight. Further down a mother gave a tearful goodbye with her children while the father, outright balling, put his face into a handkerchief.

Nowhere could Bagsy see Bontie.

She felt like crying all over again.

'Hey, you alright?' Tod's voice broke her from her pity party.

Startling, Bagsy instinctually wiped her eyes even though, for once, she wasn't crying. 'I'm fine.'

'Good. I can't stand people when they're crying. Can I join you?' He gestured at the one space that hadn't been drowning in Bagsy's belongings.

She nodded, feeling the train begin to judder. She looked hopefully back out the window but didn't recognise anyone on the platform. She didn't know why she cared – hadn't she snuck away because she didn't want to see Bontie? Why did it hurt so much that her sister... her mother... Bontie wasn't here?

Before Tod walked into the compartment he paused, turning his head to look down the corridor. A second later Maisy Jewel, a Slytherin girl with rose-coloured glasses, and Paloma Nacht, a Hufflepuff with beautifully wavy auburn hair, squeezed by. They were mid-conversation.

'What was her name?' Paloma asked.

'Perdita,' Maisy explained. 'No one believes me but I swear, she does exist.'

'Hmm...' Paloma's voice sounded unconvinced as it faded with each step the two took away from them, becoming shrouded in the clamour of the train, its passengers and its engine. 'I don't know... I believe you about everything else, but that's a bit far fetched. Maybe–'