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

Plots and Schemes

A new resident had taken up permanent board in the Eagle Club room. Mezrielda had found the space usefully filled with a chalk board, desks, and a training dummy. She'd spent all year arguing that there was no point to re-learning her spells, that she wouldn't be able to. But now, Bagsy's life was on the line.

It was two weeks before exams, but for Mezrielda, it was days before the acting troupe could disappear forever.

'Rocushift.' Mezrielda pointed her wand at the wall. It was only her second attempt, but already she was growing frustrated at the fact it hadn't worked. She'd grown accustomed to things happening when she wanted them too. At least, when it came to casting spells, she had. Every time she tried and failed it was a fresh knife to her heart. Before, she couldn't have brought herself to think about casting spells, let alone try, but now she pushed through the heartache. She had too.

'Rocushift!'

A section of the wall bulged slightly then fell back to its position.

Mezrielda frowned at her replacement wand. It was very cheap. Her parents couldn't afford a good one, and nothing like the white-wood elder wand she'd had since a child that had been passed down in the Glint family. She imagined part of the struggle was trying to cast spells without it. It was like trying to ride a broom with five handles and seven cranks while balancing a teacup on her head.

'Rocushift!' she tried again, seeing the bricks bulge out properly, forming an extra square shape jutting from the wall. A thrill of satisfaction flew through her, and she tried to see if she could move the stone at will, stretching it towards her to create an extra wall, or squashing them back into where they came from.

'What's that spell?' Tod asked as he walked in.

Her focus broken, the stones dissolved back into the brickwork they'd come from. She tusked. 'Good. You didn't get lost,' Mezrielda said, lowering her wand.

'Down the stairs and behind the tapestry,' Tod echoed the message she'd whispered to him in passing in the Slytherin common room. 'It wasn't exactly hard.'

'Absolutely,' Mezrielda agreed. 'That doesn't mean it isn't surprising you didn't get lost.'

Tod narrowed his eyes. 'What did you want me here for?'

Tapping the chalk board with her wand, Mezrielda indicated the layout of the castle on the clouds that she'd drafted. 'I've sorted transport there, and I've got an idea of the structure and the obstacles we will have to face.'

'We? Look, I'll help you prepare, but I'm not going into that building. It's suicide.'

Mezrielda looked him up and down as if he smelt of excrement. 'Fine. Then we'll need some more hands.'

'The more people you tell the greater the risk is of the acting troupe finding out. You're not thinking of telling a professor, are you?' he asked, incredulous.

'No,' she answered honestly.

'Good. Any professor worth their salt would report this to the Ministry, and then we'd have a problem.'

Mezrielda tilted her head in interest. 'How so?' She was against the ministry finding out because Bagsy was a doppelganger. Doppelgangers were listed as inexcusables by the Ministry, so if Mezrielda reported the incident, and the Ministry found out Bagsy's identity, it could put her in even more danger. The only issue was, Tod shouldn't know that Bagsy was a doppelganger, and should have no reason to suppose telling the Ministry was a bad idea.

Taking a seat at one of the desks, one hand in his pocket, the other resting on the wooden surface, Tod stared at his drumming fingers.

'Tod?'