Bat-Bogey Hexers

59

Viola stared at Hugo, dumbstruck. A feeling of betrayal washed over her.

Hugo was the culprit. But how could that be?

"You're Vascara Telt?" Ginny demanded.

All the shock and disbelief Viola was feeling was mirrored in Ginny's voice.

"What?" said Hugo, his cheerful smile turning to frown as he looked back and forth between the two girls. Then his face lit up in laugh. "Of course not!"

Viola let out a sigh of relief. Of course he wasn't. He couldn't be. And she was very glad, Viola would've been more hurt then she'd like to admit if Hugo had really been the culprit.

"Then what are you doing here?" Ginny demanded. She sounded suspicious.

"I just wanted to come, so I made sure to sneak out and get here before you two did," said Hugo, laughing. "I'm pretty sure Vascara Telt is a girl!"

"She is," said a voice. But it didn't belong to any of them.

The three children whirled around to see a girl standing in the door way. It was Ava. Her hair was down and she held something beneath her cloak.

"Ava? Did you follow us as well?" Viola demanded in slight exasperation.

"No," said Ava, with a pleasant smile.

She entered the room and stopped in front of Hugo with a sudden frown.

"I thought I told you not to come," she said.

"Well I wanted too-" Hugo paused and frowned, "Wait, you told me too?"

"You're Vascara Telt?" said Viola faintly.

Ava turned to Viola and Ginny, still smiling.

"If this boggart in a jar is any proof, then yes," said Ava.

And out from beneath her cloak came a jar, in which something immediately shifted into the shape of Viola's rat, dead.

Ava held out the jar to Viola, knowing she would want to look at the creature closeup.

Viola took the jar with slight trepidation. She really didn't want to look at her dead pet, but at the same time she knew it wasn't real, and she very much wanted to see a boggart close up.

"I can't believe you managed to catch one," Viola murmured, rotating the jar in her hand.

"So, you just thought it would be fun to start setting a boggart on people?" demanded Ginny.

Viola looked up to see the red head glaring at Ava fiercely.

Ava appeared unfazed as she looked to Ginny. Now that Viola thought about it, Ava was rarely fazed by anything, except for that one time when she was attacked by a boggart . . .

"You weren't really attacked by a boggart, were you?" said Viola.

Ava shook her blonde curls.

"No. Why don't we sit down and I'll explain everything."

Ava shut the trophy room door, then sat on the floor. Viola and Hugo quickly followed suit. Only Ginny remained standing.

"Sit, Ginny," said Hugo, "I got to know the story behind this."

But Ginny hesitated, glaring suspiciously at Ava.

Viola knew why. Ginny didn't know Ava as well as she and Hugo did. Viola knew Ava must have a reason for what she did . . . most likely.

"I'm not going to set a boggart on you," said Ava, "I promise."
"I'm not afraid of that," said Ginny.

Slowly she sat. All three students turned to Ava expectantly. Despite being rather quiet and shy, the girl did not become stressed under the sudden attention.