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

The Investigation Begins

Mezrielda wasn't at dinner, the Hufflepuff table or the Slytherin table, and when Bagsy asked Tod he just shrugged.

'How are you doing, by the way?' Bagsy added, both wanting to show him she genuinely cared, and also wanting to make sure her interaction with him wasn't purely trying to get information. She remembered he was sensitive about things being transactional.

Hamley, who had tanned skin and shoulder length curly hair, looked at Bagsy with excitement. 'You should tell her!' he said to Tod, who looked uncertainly between the two.

'We were going to the owlery,' Tod said to Bagsy. 'If you join us on the way I can tell you about... the plan.'

'The plan?' Bagsy arched an eyebrow.

'Yep. I'm not talking about it here, though. Too many ears.'

Hamley put his cutlery on his plate and patted his belly. 'I've finished my dinner anyway.' He swung his legs over the bench and stood up, Tod joining him, and Bagsy followed them to the owlery.

'Hamley wants to send a letter home,' Tod said as they walked up the steps.

'And Tod wants to open a school newspaper!' Hamley cut in.

Tod smiled crookedly. 'I figured it's the best way to become useful again.'

Bagsy looked at Tod silently.

Hamley, on the other hand, shook his head, mystified. 'You've been talking about becoming useful again this year, which I couldn't agree more with, but I'm not sure why you settled on opening a paper. It'll only make you as useful as you always are.' He looked cheekily over his shoulder. 'Which is not at all.'

'Watch it,' Tod warned, pointing his wand at Hamley, who held his hands up in mock surrender as he walked into the owlery.

'No, no, please, kind sir! Not the dancing curse, I beg you, I have two left feet!'

'I'll make you have no feet if you don't learn some manners,' Tod mocked back.

Noticing a girl standing in the middle of the owlery, Bagsy reached out her hand in warning. 'Careful–' she tried to say but Hamley, not looking where he was going, walked into her.

Primrose Vinski fell over with a thud, Hamley landing next to her.

'You idiot!' Primrose bared her teeth and jabbed a hand at Hamley.

'Protego!' Tod cast.

Primrose's claws clinked off the shield. Frustrated, she got to her feet and collected the pages that had fallen out of the envelope she'd been sealing. Looking down at them, Bagsy spotted the name Mezrielda written before Primrose had snatched them all up.

'Who's that letter for?' Bagsy asked sharply.

'None of your business.'

'Her parents,' said Tod, gesturing at the Mr and Mrs Vinski written on the front before offering a hand to help Hamley back to his feet.

Primrose turned her letter over, hiding the address. In a huff, she grabbed an owl, forced the letter into its talons and threw it out a window where is managed to take flight.

'I'm not wasting my time on you,' she added, barging past Bagsy and out of the owlery.

Tod shook his head. 'Someone sunned themselves on the wrong side of the rock,' he commented to laughter from Hamley. Bagsy, feeling only slightly guilty, giggled as well.

'What a strange girl,' Hamley said as he offered a letter to a barn owl.

'Too right.' Tod found his gannet and gave the sharp-shaped bird a pet on its head.