I am taking my life in my hands by uploading this in the library about a metre away from an old and crabbit French professor who has already yelled at half the students on this PC cluster for timewasting. I wrote this as a gift for NextChristineDaae, and she persuaded me to upload it. I hope you appreciate the risk I am taking here NCD!

Characters not mine.

Facing the Fear

Constance Hardbroom was not a woman to suffer from fear. If there was ever something that gave her the slightest twinge of nervous unease, she dealt with it swiftly and without mercy. When she had first begun to learn to ride a broomstick and had plummeted spectacularly to the ground on her maiden voyage, she simply gritted her teeth and got back on again. When all her classmates had screamed at the sight of a wasp flying into the room, she had trapped it in a bottle of drowsy potion and let it go back into the wild, waving it on its slightly drunken way.

But now she had come across something utterly terrifying. She was gripped with fear and there was nothing she could do about it until tomorrow, when Hecketty Broomhead would walk through the door, draw herself up to her full, if diminutive, height – Constance couldn't understand how she could be scared of a woman whom she stood head and shoulders above – and proceed to frighten the straight-laced deputy of Cackle's Academy absolutely witless.

So, at half-past three in the morning, Constance found herself in the staffroom, trying to think of a strategy for facing her fear, and getting more and more worried with every minute that brought her closer to nine o'clock with no ideas whatsoever.

Suddenly there was a noise from the corner of the staffroom. She peered into the darkness beyond the stationery cupboard but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then it came again, a rattling sound that became louder and louder until Miss Bat came tumbling out of the cupboard with something akin to a battle cry.

"Avast me hearties!" she squealed. "Surrender landlubber or prepare to walk the plank!" She finally came to a stop in front of Constance, glasses skewed and brandishing her conducting baton like a rapier before her.

"Oh," she said, readjusting her glasses and sticking her baton in her ear absently. "It's only you Constance. I thought we had burglars for a second there."

Constance sighed.

"I thought we agreed that reading 'Treasure Island' was not doing anything to aid your over-active imagination, Davina?"

"Yes… well…" Davina looked sheepish and hid the well-thumbed paperback behind her.

"Oh never mind, it doesn't matter." Constance looked her colleague up and down, taking in her state of attire. "Davina, why are you wearing your dressing gown?"

"I was asleep," she replied, as if she was stating the obvious. "Or at least I was until you came in and woke me up."

"But Davina, you were in the cupboard!"

"And?"

Constance gave up with a sigh, but Davina continued unabated.

"And what are you doing in here at this time of a morning. I know you're an early riser Constance but this is ridiculous, even by your standards."

"I was just…" Constance tried to think of a viable excuse that wasn't 'I was too scared to sleep', but none was forthcoming. "I was just mentally preparing myself for the day ahead."

Thankfully Davina nodded knowingly.

"I understand. I was too."

"I thought you were asleep?"

"I was mentally preparing myself until I fell asleep. The cupboard is an excellent place to confront one's fears, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know. I can't say I've tried it."

"You haven't? My word Constance, you're missing out!"

Despite her protests, Constance found herself being propelled towards the staffroom cupboard by the small but most definitely determined chanting teacher.

"Come on, there's plenty of room for two, we'll have a cup of tea."

"But Davina, it's a stationery cupboard!"

XXX

If you had looked into the staffroom of Cackle's Academy just after dawn broke, you would not have seen anything. You would, however, have heard the voices of two women coming from the cupboard in the corner of the room.

"Feeling better now Constance?"

"Remarkably."

"Perfect. Time for breakfast I think. There's a toast rack by your left elbow, though you might be sitting on the marmalade."

"It really is quite incredible what you've done in here Davina. I never realised there was so much space."

"Oh, it was nothing. Do excuse the untidiness, I wasn't expecting visitors. The butter's next to your ear."

"I'm still not quite sure how you managed to get a camp bed in here though."

"It was quite a delicate operation, I will say that much. More tea?"

Before Constance could reply, the cupboard door opened to reveal Miss Cackle observing the pair with amusement.

"Not interrupting, am I?"

"Oh no," said Davina chirpily. "Constance and I were just facing our fears concerning the inspection today."

"Ah. I see." Amelia went to shut the doors again but then turned back.

"Don't suppose there's room for one more?"