Chapter One

Mildred sat on her window sill in her room at Cackle's. Light streamed onto her notebook, illuminating dust. Mildred frowned and erased one of the lines of Miss Hardbroom's cheek. She carefully redrew it. No, it still wasn't right. She was getting frustrated. She didn't want to erase too much and wear a hole in the paper, or break her pencil lead. Instead, she set the sketchbook aside and started pacing.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," Miss Hardbroom materialized in the center of the room.

"Miss Hardbroom!" Mildred brightened instantly.

"Don't look so happy to see me. I have work for you to do."

"Okay, well, that's better than being bored! I was starting to get restless."

"I can see that. Come, let's put that energy to good use." Miss Hardbroom waved her fingers and they both disappeared and reappeared in a dusty room stacked with shelves.

Mildred coughed. "What? What are we doing in here?"

"These papers need sorting."

"Is this a punishment?"

"Not yet."

"But, Miss Hardbroom. Miss Pentangle said I need to keep working on my magic, I don't see how—"

"Silence! Magic requires discipline, attention to detail, and a willingness to occasionally perform repetitive dull tasks which need to be executed with precision. You, Mildred Hubble, lack these abilities. So, until you can improve, you will be sorting files. For one hour each day. At least. If you try to use magic or otherwise perform one of your nasty tricks," Miss Hardbroom paused, looking Mildred dead in the eyes. "There will be consequences." With that, she disappeared.

Mildred folded her arms and slumped.

My mum's happy. My mum's having a good time. She deserves this. Mildred tried to use positive thinking strategies to keep her spirits up, but soon she found that her sniffles turned to tears. Oh no. Miss Hardbroom is going to flip if I get these papers wet. Keep it together Mildred. At least it's not lines, my hand would be so sore by now if it was lines.

If Mildred was being honest with herself, her wrists and arms were starting to get a little sore from lifting stacks of paper. And her eyes were definitely getting tired from squinting at different labels on boxes and trying to read loopy handwriting. If she kept up this work, she might need glasses like Maud!

The papers were so unorganized it was making Mildred's head spin. Some of them were graded student's papers, others were overall progress reports on students. Some were complicated magical equations, Mildred wasn't sure if they were teacher's notes on spells that were supposed to work or student's failed attempts at creating spells. There was a different box labeled for each. One place where she was supposed to put teacher's favorite spells to teach, and another where she was supposed to put student's failed attempts.

Mildred recognized Miss Hardbroom's handwriting on some and filed them with the teachers. Mildred had started a pile for papers she didn't know how to sort, and that she would have to ask Miss Hardbroom about. That was the largest pile.

Mildred felt dread in her stomach, and fluttery nerves. Miss Hardbroom would yell at her when she saw it. Say she was so incompetent that she couldn't even sort papers properly. Mildred sniffled. She missed her mum. Suddenly, she didn't care how happy she was with her boyfriend. If her mum were with her, she would help Mildred practice her spells, even though she didn't even know magic! She was always encouraging and never called Mildred stupid no matter how much time it took for her to learn something. She said that taking more time just showed that she cared, and was dedicated. That that was all that really mattered. Her mum was the bats. It was so unfair that someone as kind and good as her didn't have magic, and someone as mean and unfair as HB did.

Mildred didn't even know why she thought about HB so much. She supposed that's what happened when you hated someone. And besides, she couldn't get her out of her head because she was always into her business, causing trouble for her, and trying to get her expelled. Well, she hadn't been trying to get her expelled so much lately. But she hadn't been very nice either.

Mildred's eyes fell on the unfinished student's spells. Mildred closed her eyes. She could hear Maud's voice in her mind. Mildred don't. Don't do something to make HB hate you even more. Just endure it. It can't be as bad as being kicked out.

Mildred opened her eyes. If I'm kicked out, at least I'll get to see my mum more. She reached for one of the student's spells. I'm not like Maud anyway. I don't have self-control like her. Maybe HB is right, maybe I don't deserve to be here. Well, I may as well have fun anyway. Mildred swore she could hear Enid giggling. Enid would understand. Enid would support her. Mildred got a funny feeling in her stomach when she thought about Enid. It was like a firework, a golden one, exploding in her gut. She thought about HB more than she thought about Enid, but with Enid, there were none of the negative feelings attached.

Scrawled at the top of the paper were the words "the cruel become the cat." Mildred laughed. Someone had tried to turn a mean teacher into a familiar! She wondered if the student could have even been trying to use it on HB. Must be, she could hear Enid say. Who else?

Mildred's eyes lit up gleefully as she looked at the spell. It took her a while, but eventually, she found a way of finishing the spell that she was pretty sure would work. "Yes, yes, yes!" She jumped up and down, clutching the paper to her chest. "Shut up Maud!"

"What did you say?" Miss Hardbroom materialized behind her.

Mildred felt all the breath leave her. Dread was clutching her. She turned around slowly. She dropped the paper.

Miss Hardbroom's eyes followed it to the floor. Her expression was full of fury and disgust.

Now was her chance. Mildred acted.

"Puppies milk, dogs are fat, turn this cruel bitch into a cat!" Mildred waved her hands. For a second nothing happened. Mildred thought she might die, that her heart might just snap and stop working as HB advanced towards her. Then HB was gone. Mildred looked down and saw a black cat.

The cat yowled and lunged. It dug its claws into Mildred's tights. Mildred ran for it. She managed to get out before the cat. She slammed the door, effectively locking the cat in the room with all of the papers. Mildred leaned against the door, panting, waves of terror rolled through her. Then she relaxed and smiled. "Well HB, now you know how it feels to be different." With that, Mildred snapped her fingers. She reappeared in her room. Mildred danced in a circle.

Mildred had her arms thrown into the air. "I even completed a transport spell!" She fell onto her bed with glee. Now for the next task. She would have to find a way to replace HB when Pippa came looking for her. Luckily, thoughts of another student were quick to inspire her, and this time, it wasn't her friend's voices that she imagined to help her, but the voice of her sworn enemy.