Chapter Text
Stunned, Mezrielda stared at Fitzsimmons. Then, enraged, she pointed. ‘You’re living with them?’ she asked Starrett.
Starrett rubbed her temples. ‘That’s none of your business.’
‘Yes, she is,’ Fitzsimmons said at the same time. Starrett glared at them while Fitzsimmons blinked back at her.
‘How could you?’ Mezrielda said. ‘You’re living with someone who is clearly linked to the beast, the creature that helped cause Bagsy’s… helped cause this mess!’
Starrett was standing now, too. ‘Listen here, you half-witted delinquent–’
‘Emese,’ Fitzsimmons said calmly, sweeping into the room. They were wearing slippers over their onesie. Were Mezrielda not so furious, she’d find it funny. ‘We should tell her.’
‘No.’ Starrett turned her ire to Fitzsimmons then. ‘She is a child poking her nose where it does not belong.’
Mezrielda didn’t know what to think, so she sank back into the armchair, her energy leaving her once more.
Fitzsimmons said, ‘Evidently, despite our best efforts, she finds herself entwined with the difficulties of our modern world. She has troubled herself with the journey here, our trust of her is beyond due.’
‘But–’
‘Emese.’ Fitzsimmons took off their glasses. Even without the bug-like accessory Fitzsimmons eyes were oddly large. Relenting, Starrett sat back down, pointedly looking out the window. Fitzsimmons looked at the armchair Mezrielda was occupying with an odd expression, before sitting down on a stool. ‘You are correct,’ Fitzsimmons admitted. ‘I must have links with the beast.’
Mezrielda snarled. ‘You admit it.’
‘There has been a sizable gap in my memory for many years,’ Fitzsimmons explained, entirely unperturbed by Mezrielda’s anger. ‘It is why I have been unable to provide satisfactory answers to any of your or Bagsyllia’s questions.’
‘Don’t say her name,’ Mezrielda snapped. Then, with a wary look, she said, ‘What do you mean, you have a gap in your memories?’
Fitzsimmons looked at Starrett, who kept her eyes averted. ‘I mean that at some point of which I am unaware of a portion of my memories were taken from me. Professor Starrett and I have been trying to recover them for many years to no avail.’
‘What’s missing?’
Fitzsimmons grimaced. ‘Regrettably, that is the trouble with having your memories taken. You see, I do not know what was taken but it has become clear to me that whatever was there must explain the link between myself and the beast.’
Mezrielda was having none of it. ‘Liar. Bagsy told me about the conversations you had with her in her first year. You knew about the myth of the fairy and the girl trapped in the gauntlet, you even told her the girl in the gauntlet was the blood eyed beast transformed by greed. You knew of the beast’s existence before it attacked anyone, you seemed to know the brick Bagsy was carrying was the gauntlet itself and you definitely knew what I wished for using it. Your memories are untouched.’
‘Mezrielda,’ Fitzsimmons cautioned, holding a hand up for her silence. ‘I knew of the myth about the girl and the gauntlet because it is an ancient part of wizarding history, and I was aware of the significance of the brick in Bagsy’s hands because, free from whatever illusion had kept it hidden within the owlery, my skin was practically burning from the power emanating within it. As for knowing of the beast’s existence that, too, I learnt in tandem with the myth of the fairy and the girl in the gauntlet. Do you recall how, in your first year at Hogwarts, a number of magical creatures were rescued from the Ministry’s clutches?’
‘Yes.’
‘Before those creatures were rescued, and before the beast escaped, the monster was being held captive in the Ministry’s headquarters. As the Head Professor of Hogwarts, I had been informed about its existence, and the threat it posed, the day I accepted my position. It is a measure of safeguarding the Ministry have observed for centuries. Along with the knowledge of its existence I, too, was provided with the historical theory that the beast is most likely the girl from the myth.’
Mezrielda gestured angrily at Starrett and then Fitzsimmons. ‘Wasn’t it you who released the beast, then? It escaped when those creatures were stolen. It seems to me like this was all a part of your plan. Release the monster you’re working for and have it reign havoc whilst acting as if you have no part in it. I bet you were disappointed when my wish thwarted the beast’s attempt to kill Bagsy in her first year.’
Starrett’s nostrils flared. ‘We risked life and limb to slay the thing in your second year, or did you forget?’
‘So you claim.’
Starrett looked ready to spring to her feet in her fury. ‘Watch your tone.’
Fitzsimmons said, ‘The beast was never meant to escape when we orchestrated the rescue of those creatures. The fact that it did was unknown to us until after I realised it had appeared in the test Bagsy took in her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, at which point I did my best to safeguard the school. I was, unfortunately, unaware that its method of reaching into the building was through the spiral staircase.’
Starrett scoffed. ‘We didn’t release that thing. Please. We all know who did it. With what happened recently, it’s become painfully obvious that I was right to never trust her.’
Mezrielda furrowed her brow, taking a breath as she considered what Fitzsimmons had said. If Bagsy were here, and Fitzsimmons really was telling the truth, Bagsy could brew some silver cleanse for them and solve the issue. ‘Wait,’ Mezrielda murmured, her mind catching up to the conversation. ‘Who do you think released it?’
Starrett stood up, then, unable to contain her frustration and pacing once more. ‘I won’t speak her name.’
Clearly, Mezrielda’s question had hit a nerve.
Even Fitzsimmons looked uncomfortable, shooting a guilty look in Starrett’s direction. ‘She seemed trustworthy,’ Fitzsimmons defended themselves. ‘We needed her help, as she did ours, and there was an child’s safety in question if we didn’t take her under our wing.’
‘No,’ Starrett pushed back. ‘I told you how she was as a student. You never saw it because you’re too trusting but I did. She acted as if she was an incompetent fool who couldn’t harm a fly, in my lessons she pretended she didn’t know what a wand was, always failing to cast any spells but, the moment backs were turned, she was the most genius student I’ve ever seen. She could have achieved top marks in every subject if she’d wanted but instead, she calculated the lowest possible grades she’d need to make it into the Ministry and achieved her goals without making too much of a star out of herself. She completed her tests to receive those exact results to the decimal point, all the while seeming like a wallflower no one need pay attention to.’
Fitzsimmons took a breath. ‘She rescued a doppelganger from a Beetlehorn warehouse. I saw the way she spoke about the child. She genuinely cared for her. So long as she cared for a magical being she would have every reason to be on our side, the side fighting for the liberation of magical beings.’
‘And yet…’ Starrett retorted.
Mezrielda felt her blood turn cold. ‘You’re talking about Bontie.’ Starrett and Fitzsimmons paused their argument, looking as though they’d forgotten Mezrielda was there. ‘She couldn’t have cared about Bagsy.’
Fitzsimmons narrowed their eyes. ‘Why do you say that?’
Mezrielda held Fitzsimmons gaze, before looking at Starrett. Starrett must know Bontie had been in the caves as she’d been there too, but she hadn’t seen who’d cast the spell that had caused everything to fall apart. ‘Bontie’s the one who…’ Mezrielda’s voice cut off and she closed her mouth.
‘This again,’ Fitzsimmons muttered. They glanced at Starrett. ‘She mentioned something like this at the funeral. Mezrielda, whilst Bontie was present and, no doubt from what Starrett has told me, instrumental in the incident that occurred, she still saw Bagsy as family. My best guess is she has been swayed by the lure of power, spurred on by what she perceives to be justice, leading to a mistake that cost her, and others, greatly–’
‘No,’ Mezrielda cut in. ‘No, I don’t mean she had a hand in it. I don’t mean that her negligence or idiocy or selfishness indirectly caused Bagsy’s death.’ Starrett stopped her pacing, her back to Mezrielda and Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons’ hands were clasped together tightly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘What I meant at the funeral was that… she’s the one who cast the spell.’
Starrett, keeping her face turned away from them, moved towards the door. Without taking the time to put her heels on she threw the door open, stepped outside, and slammed it closed behind her.
Fitzsimmons looked at the door before turning their head slowly back to Mezrielda. ‘At the funeral her wand didn’t show the killing curse when you brought forth the spells it had previously cast.’
‘She must have more than one wand,’ Mezrielda reasoned. ‘I was foolish to have not realised that would be the case at the time. Bontie’s evidently too clever to be caught out in such a way.’
Resting their face on their hands Fitzsimmons took a few moments to consider this news, a look of frosted dread etched into their skin. ‘I have clearly highly misjudged the woman.’
Mezrielda clenched her fingers in the fabric of her robe. ‘You aren’t the only one,’ she said bitterly. ‘Bagsy trusted her right up until… even as the spell hit her she still…’
Fitzsimmons sat back up. ‘I trusted someone I shouldn’t have,’ they admitted. ‘But I still wish not to make the mistake of withholding trust from someone who needs it.’ Mezrielda raised her eyebrows in confusion. ‘You still believe she’s alive and you’re going to do something reckless. You should know that the magical beings rescued from the Ministry all those years ago were hidden within a hollow. You should also know that Rebontil must have revealed the hollow’s location to the beast as those beings are now gone. Neither Starrett nor I have a clue where they are.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’ Mezrielda asked suspiciously.
‘Starrett wants to give up on what we’ve been fighting for,’ Fitzsimmons confided. ‘She wants to keep everything we know between us, with people we know we can trust. Starrett claims we will lose if we trust the wrong people, but I know we will lose if we trust no one. Given how the cards are falling, we no longer have the luxury of withholding the skirmishes of this world from the youth of today. In short, whilst you may not trust me, Mezrielda, I am deciding to trust you.’
Feeling conflicted about Fitzsimmons, Mezrielda didn’t say thank you, but merely looked at them in silence.
After a few moments the door was thrust open and Starrett strode back inside. ‘You,’ she said, pointing at Mezrielda. With a pulse of magic, Mezrielda found herself forced out of the chair into a standing position. She swayed, barely managing to keep herself upright. ‘You’re coming with me. I’ve sent word to your parents. There’s a floo station an hour away. You’re going home.’
‘But–’ Mezrielda tried to protest. She still didn’t know where Bagsy’s body had gone, and the anonymous figure had seemed to want her to come here.
‘Not another word,’ Starrett hissed, grabbing her shoulder and forcing her out of the house. Mezrielda felt her heart stall, expecting to fall onto the street far below, too tired to shift into a magpie in time. Instead, she found the house was on the floor of a large field. Starrett shoved her forward. ‘Don’t dawdle,’ she growled.
Setting a brutal pace, Starrett led them through the fields. Mezrielda glanced back at the house, seeing it lift into the sky and slowly hover away. Starrett had needed to tell Mezrielda of its existence before she could see it, so she assumed it had both a fidelius charm and a constant movement enchantment keeping its location a mystery.
When they reached a small outhouse and Starrett opened the door, motioning at the toilet, Mezrielda wrinkled her nose in disgust.
‘I absolutely, positively am not–’ she began to protest, only for Starrett to push her forward and throw a handful of floo power onto the floor from a pouch in her jeans.
‘Vespite Manor,’ Starrett said, and green flames surged out of the toilet as if a leak had burst. They cascaded around Mezrielda and when they vanished she found herself back in her family’s living room, surrounded by the red and black aged decor.
Her mother and father were standing in front of the fireplace, their arms crossed and expressions dark. Mezrielda would have been distracted by her apprehension were she not glancing at the fireplace, an idea sparking in her mind like the lights of dying flames.
