Disclaimer - I don't own the Worst Witch... or the thing its crossed over within this story.

Look to the bottom of this chapter - as you read you might start to see clues about what the other fandom is.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tempus Autem Domine.

Sitting opposite the Great wizard, Mildred wondered what all this was about though she guessed that she wasn't going to like it, not one little bit since she had been specifically ordered/requested to come here to Miss Cackle's office to meet with the Great Wizard.

She had seen the look the wizard had sent her as she'd been transferred in by Miss Hardbroom, remembering her as the girl who had made a fool of herself greeting him outside earlier, but she was so used to the contempt by now it didn't bother her. Truthfully she wondered whether or not she should even reveal what she really was to these people, these stunted little monkeys.

Granted, she hadn't made the best impression by showing up late and saying stupid things to the man, but that was hardly her fault was it? She didn't know much about the Witching world since she'd only been here a short time, but she was close, dangerously close, to making these stupid people realise she was more than a so-called 'non-witch.'

"Miss Hubble, according to this letter," the Great Wizard said in a calm, neutral manner while Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom were to her sides and he held up the letter in question, "you've had a list of misdemeanours longer than a serpent's tail."

The wizard surprised her slightly by handing her the letter while she had wondered what he knew, but she realised he wanted to hear her side of the story. Mildred's eyes scanned the letter for a second, eternally grateful that she could speed read faster than these primitives could ever grasp (while she was more tolerant towards humans than others of her race, she still found them a little bit… foolish, and besides until the humans actually bothered to grow up they would still be primitive in her mind).

The moment she finished she had the whole story. The letter was basically an account of her 'misdemeanours' at the school though it didn't name any particular student, accidents in the potions lab, her failures to master broomstick riding, and her troubles with casting spells, only this was written from an observer point of view. At first she thought Ethel Hallow had written it, but Mildred found it hard to believe the girl who had become her self-proclaimed rival when truthfully Mildred saw her as nothing more than a girl with issues no-one wanted to tackle with had written it, but she decided against it because this letter didn't add up with what she knew about Ethel.

Ethel, while the type to write something like this, would have gone into a bit more detail, she would have put her adopted name in and drew more attention to herself so then the Great Wizard wouldn't be wasting time with these stupid questions. She would also make the letter more scathing under a mask of formality, in comparison whoever had written, this letter made it sound more like a teacher, or a concerned parent, not the work of someone like Ethel.

Oh, she'd probably do it, but the problem with Ethel was she lacked the subtlety to write something like this.

Still, she gave in to her curiosity to find out if the Great Wizard knew more than he was letting on. Without looking at him (she wasn't in the mood to give someone in power respect - she had done that during the War, and look where it had gotten her), she asked quietly, "Who wrote this?"

She didn't really expect the wizard to know, but then again she was still trying to learn more about this strange human society and every day she learnt something new. But this was something she could work around.

"Leaving aside the question of authorship for the moment, are these allegations true?" the wizard asked, and Mildred had to give the man credit, he was clearly good at shifting topics but then again she had been like that herself during her prior two lives.

It was a consummate skill for an experienced politician, to move the subject along when it was clear they didn't have a clue how to answer a specific question.

She gave the show of reading the letter slowly, but truthfully she was trying to work out who had written the letter, but she was trying to work out what to say though she was close to dropping the charade when Miss Cackle spoke up (there was something not quite right with her today, but for the moment she wouldn't say a word).

"Mildred Hubble is a slow learner, Your Greatness," she said, "but with our help, I'm sure she will catch up."

Oh thanks a lot for that, Miss Cackle. Thank you very much. Mildred took umbrage at the remark, remembering how she had been at HER academy, the real academy back home. Her tutors had been impressed with her performance.

But not here.

She still wasn't sure what exactly created the magic these people used, but since she hadn't been much of a tourist since her second incarnation and her third self had been too busy back home to travel much, her experience with Earth and humans, in general, was limited.

Despite that, she had some theories of how the magical world came to be, though she had no intention of telling them that their world could be a consequence of the war.

"Eventually," Miss Hardbroom added quietly breaking through Mildred's thoughts; you had to hand it to HB, Mildred thought to herself, she was good at generating negative waves.

One look into the Great wizards' eyes told Mildred that HB's words had made him even more determined to find out what was going on and to see if there was any truth to the letter. "It's not just a question of ability, its a question of discipline, and the safety of the other girls. I assume your parents know about your behaviour?" he asked Mildred sternly.

Mildred looked up from the letter. "My mum's impressed I got in at all," she said, though she didn't say that 'Julie' was as fake as her own identity, but the humans in the room didn't need to know that.

Besides, the truth of what had happened to her own family during the War….. they were still fresh, and she often wondered even now since her current self appeared so young physically despite her being quite old, and truthfully they were no-one's business but her own.

Miss Cackle clarified the situation helpfully. "Mildred is our first ever student from a non-witching family."

Mildred almost sat back to await the reaction and she wasn't truly disappointed with what she got. The Great Wizard's face turned red and Mildred knew what was coming, she had received the same reaction ever since she'd arrived- his reaction was as predictable as the rest of them. "You mean this girl is not a witch?" he hissed in disbelieving anger.

After almost rolling her eyes at the unimaginative question she had heard time and time again, Mildred turned her head in the direction to where Miss Cackle was standing, wondering what she was going to say but truthfully she wasn't expecting much. The longer she was at Cackles, the more convinced she became that the so-called 'trial' was just a farce, something to convince Mildred that her 'dreams' of becoming a witch was impractical fantasy.

Truthfully she didn't care about being a witch.

She was actually fascinated by the concept that a hidden world was right underneath the surface of human society; she had never come across something like this in her lives. Oh, she had encountered conspiracies to murder or to steal or ancient civilisations, but she had never come across a race of humans who had a power that other humans lacked.

She also wondered if the witching world was a consequence of the War, but there was still time for her to work out the truth but if she was kicked out of Cackles anytime soon, it was no great loss. She was only here to kill time.

But in her mind this world of magic was probably no better than the world created by JK Rowling - some of the Harry Potter books were dull-witted in her mind, and some of the scenarios were unrealistic, but it was the rampant ignorance the so-called Purebloods had towards the muggle-borns which was, in her mind, realistic when she realised that although wizards were supposed to be wise that went hand in hand with how some of the students and many of the teachers treated Mildred herself that made them more human.

What the Great Wizard said next snapped her out of her thoughts as he stood up - whether it was because he felt that his words would have the greatest effect if he stood up, or if he wanted to address the teachers in the room eye to eye, she couldn't tell and frankly didn't care.

"I've always had the great respect for you, Ada, but this will not do. No wonder this school is descending into chaos!"

Mildred held back the urge to snort. Typical, so typical…. blame the nonentity for matters outside her comfort zone.

Unaware of what was going on in Mildred's mind, Miss Cackle said loudly, "This girl has talent!"

But the Great Wizard had a counter argument. "Talent is meaningless unless it is used correctly. Magic in the wrong hands can be extremely dangerous. You, of all people, should know that." Mildred had been following this with an open mouth - she wished she could give off the air of detached disinterest her people were famous for, but she had managed to master a few of the basics but as the years passed and she came across things that her people had otherwise ignored she had pushed detachment aside in favour of emotion until those lessons became meaningless.

Mildred caught the pained look on the elderly witch's face, her eyes closed as she tried to maintain her control.

But the Great Wizard was far from finished. "That's why you removed Agatha's powers after that unpleasantness on Selection Day!"

Mildred was angry - the Great Wizard knew nothing about her, but had decided to base his entire argument on how she wasn't even from his cosy little world and had few troubles comparing her to Agatha Cackle.

"Mildred and my sister are very different people!"

Mildred looked between the two arguing magicians, it was like watching a very bad tennis match taking place before her eyes. She caught Miss Cackle's gaze as the woman added, "Very different."

"That is certainly true, but I think His Greatness is urging us to consider the greater good of the school," Miss Hardbroom said in a hurried manner with well-chosen words meant to soothe Miss Cackle's words, it was clear she wanted Mildred out of the school. Mildred wanted to laugh; Miss Hardbroom was so transparent it wasn't even funny. Why couldn't she actually just say to someone's face if they bothered her? How hard was it to do that?

Huffing, Miss Cackle moved to stand to the side between the Great Wizard and Mildred. "I. Am," she said in a manner that was a little bit too dramatic. "This school needs talented witches no matter what their background," she said looking between the irritated Great Wizard and Miss Hardbroom who was trying to make her see sense, "I believe that Mildred has that talent," she looked down at the still seated Mildred, "I would stake my reputation on it."

Inwardly Mildred winced. Oooh, not good. Don't do that, never do that.

"Would you?" the Great Wizard asked slyly as an idea clearly entered his mind, and Mildred realised what he was going to do. It wasn't rocket science any more than it was transdimensional engineering, she knew what the Great Wizard had in mind. "Indeed," he said, accepting the challenge.

Oh no.

Miss Cackle smiled and turned her smiling face down towards Mildred, but while she smiled back weakly, Mildred wondered what she was going to do next.

"So who wrote the letter?" Enid asked half an hour later when Mildred met up with her and Maud and took her back to her bedroom. Enid and Maud were sitting on her bed. They'd listened silently and assimilated the news about the letter, and it was left to Enid to ask the logical question.

Mildred stood up from where she'd been sitting on the window sill. "I don't know, but we haven't got time to worry about it now. I've got to study up for this magic display," she said picking up the weighty tome Miss Cackle had given her to study up (she hadn't told anyone about her concerns for Cackle, but unless she received any proof that something was wrong then she'd keep quiet about it).

"Magic display?" Maud repeated slowly, looking at her with sudden worry.

Mildred sighed mentally, she'd expected this reaction. She had never been able to truly master magic; her own mind was geared more towards science rather than something like magic. But there was something about the way these witches cast their spells that she was trying to get her head around.

"Oh, the Great Wizard said I need to prove I belong here," she said, flicking through the pages while trying to find something simple and relatively easy; she knew she'd spoken in an offhanded manner to make it sound like it was no big deal, but she was trying hard to work out ways of getting through this without anything going wrong.

"You've got to do magic in front of the Great Wizard?" Enid said slowly, her expression showing scepticism and worry. Mildred was tempted at that moment to lash out at her, she was becoming tired of the humans' never-ending need to discriminate. She settled on looking scathingly towards her friends - it was strange having friends that cared for her unlike back home (she instantly curbed that train of thought as memories of what happened with Sartia sprang to mind), but she sometimes found their lack of faith annoying and more than a bit disturbing.

"Oh, Millie," Maud said in exasperation as she laid down on the bed, "no!"

Mildred turned around so they couldn't see her when she rolled her eyes.

Humans.

Okay, so the magic display went wrong.

But Mildred was becoming increasingly convinced that Miss Cackle was trying to kill her. Everyone in the school knew she was terrible at broomstick flight, and yet the woman wanted her to lead a display for the Great Wizard's approval. But as she was outside, clad in her cloak and her hat, she couldn't think of a way she could get out of it so she could find out what was going on. What made it worse was how she was going to be forced to fly on Ethel's broomstick.

Mildred was worried she might damage the stupid thing though truly she was beyond caring at this point. She just wished that she could work out what her main problems with broomstick flying was, then maybe she could really lift two fingers up at HB to make that woman wake up. It was times like this, she had her old air-car. The engine modifications had made it the envy of her classmates….

She was currently holding the broomstick in her hand - it was alright for Maud and Enid to tell her not to panic, but she wasn't panicking, she was worried about what the catch to all this was - as she prepared to lead.

After saying in unison with the other girls "Go Cackles" she spotted Miss Cackle standing close-by and she walked over to the witch, hoping to make her see some sense.

"Miss Cackle, I think you should ask Ethel to fly lead," she said to the woman.

The woman shook her head, "The decision is made. I chose you."

Deciding to try another tack, Mildred tried to say persuasively, "Look I know you're trying to help me, but this is for your sake-."

The smile on Ada's face vanished, and her expression became stone-like and cold. "Do not presume to tell me what is good for me and my school," she said angrily, taking Mildred by surprise. But what surprised her more was how 'Miss Cackle' leaned in close in the classic intimidation stance.

"You will get on that broomstick and you will fly in this display, or else there will be consequences-!"

"Excuse me, but are you threatening me?" Mildred asked, instantly dropping her own facade and letting the persona that she had worn so well back home, the persona that had earned the nickname of "Ice Maiden" because of her cold manner during her years at the Academy, and had exuded so many times over the years.

It seemed that the interruption made 'Miss Cackle' snap back into reality, and she tried to smile. "What? No, of course not. Now," she lifted her hand and began to wave it around as she began to cast a transfer spell, "off you go."

Nothing happened.

Mildred's head shot up and her dark eyes met Miss Cackle's. The woman looked annoyed, but now Mildred knew what was going on, and before the woman could just waltz off Mildred whispered. "It's you, isn't it? I knew something was off with you today, but I never imagined this. It is you…. Agatha," she hissed.

Now it made so much sense. She had thought something was odd with Miss Cackle today, but she hadn't considered it might have been Agatha, what with the Great Wizard here. But now she knew who this imposter was, she could see now why Miss Cackle seemed determined to ruin her school's image.

'Miss Cackle's' tried to smile, but the effect was ruined by the glint of anger in her eyes.

"You're still up to your tricks," Mildred shook her head and looked at the human with unhidden disdain. "Don't you have anything better to do with your short, pointless lifetime than to take over a school?"

It might have been a bad idea to say that, but truthfully Mildred no longer cared about keeping up appearances, and besides she wanted to vent her frustration out on someone deserving for a change; the Great Wizard was certainly a potential target as well, but that would go into trouble she didn't need.

Dropping any pretence of being her twin sister, though Mildred did catch sight of the slight curiosity in the woman's eye at how her life was described, Agatha whispered, "This school is mine-!"

Not bothering to listen to the typical human monologue of 'this is mine and no-one else's', Mildred shook her head, a scornful smile on her face as she realised what was going on. "So that's what you are doing. You're so finite it's pathetic! I'm even more amazed your ancestors bothered to climb out of the trees, you're so repetitive its boring."

"What are you going to do?" Confidence appeared in Agatha's eyes, though Mildred could tell she was annoyed because this little conversation was not going the way she had pictured it. "Tell on me?" she mocked. "No-one would believe you, you have no proof."

As much as she hated to admit it, Mildred knew she had a point. "I'll find a way, and this time hopefully you'll be locked up for life. I don't care how I do it; I will make sure you're locked away in a dark hole for the rest of your life!"

Her words made Agatha angry, but it was only for a second. A moment later, Agatha smiled triumphantly and walked away. Mildred watched her go, not bothering to call out to the others that Agatha was back, and she was worried about the look of triumph. She was right - she didn't have any proof and there was no time to find any herself.

Maud came over to her, and Mildred looked desperately into her friends' eyes (Maud and Enid were better people than Sartia had ever been before she'd discovered that she hadn't been a friend at all, and she was thankful for that). "Millie? Is everything alright?"

"No, it's not alright. Maud, that was not Miss Cackle, that was Agatha!"

Maud's face became exasperatedly skeptical. "Millie," she said slowly. "She can't be."

"Maud, think about it," Mildred snapped (this was not the time to be polite), "she just tried to use a transfer spell, but it didn't work. Miss Cackle, the real Miss Cackle, can use that spell, so why wouldn't it work for her now?"

"Are you sure?" Maud was still uncertain.

Resisting the urge to rant about human stupidity, Mildred gave Maud both barrels and hoped the logic would make Maud realise the truth. "Oh, open your eyes," she said in the same exasperated tone she had used on 'Kirkland' when she told him Drax was conning him, "Maud, we're about to perform an important flying display, on broomsticks, in front of the Great Wizard. She is asking me to lead it; Miss Cackle has given me dozens of chances in the past, but even she would think twice about making me do this. Why would she turn around and drop this on my head? Think about it; she has been using me to make the school look bad, does that sound like Miss Cackle to you?"

Looking into Maud's eyes Mildred saw that her efforts were paying off. Maud's eyes widened for a moment. "Oh, my hat, it's Agatha," she said, pulling on her hat for emphasis. "We have to tell the Great Wizard!"

"Right, and then what else do we say to him, that I'm the reincarnation of Morgana Le Fey? Face it, Maud, he won't believe us. We need to find proof ourselves, we need to find the real Miss Cackle. I think she's in this school, somewhere," Mildred said and she was about to run off without a thought about the flying display - anything organised by Agatha was probably tainted anyway, and besides she would rather run around looking for the real Miss Cackle that play that woman's games - when Miss Drill suddenly called out, evidently seeing them both about to run off.

"Uh, Mildred Hubble," the flying teacher called, her tone reflecting irritation and a bit of disbelieving annoyance at what Mildred was about to do, making Maud and her stop and turn. The flying teacher was walking over, her mouth open in disbelief. "Where do you think you're going?"

Holding out a hand to stop Maud from saying a word about what they'd just learnt - if the Great Wizard wasn't going to believe them, why should Miss Drill? - Mildred sighed, wondering why the teachers had to say the first and second names of their students since it was really irritating. "I was about to take care of a little errand. Really got to go."

It was a stupid excuse, but it was the best she could come up with.

Miss Drill marched over, really annoyed. "We're all counting on you, Mildred, don't let us down, now."

"Uh, no she won't," Maud said, walking over to Miss Drill and made Mildred follow her - surely Maud was not stupid enough to tell her about Agatha, they had no proof.

Maud stood right next to Miss Drill so the two could speak without the others hearing her while the older witch was wondering what was going on. "You see, Mildred was, uhm, just helping me out," Maud said, making Miss Drill look between the pair curiously, "you see I'm having a bit of tummy trouble." She patted her stomach and huffed a bit for emphasis.

Mildred wondered if this would work. Miss Drill was an experienced teacher, after all, so she should see through the obvious lie easily enough and punish Maud. She was surprised when Miss Drill gave Maud a smile. "Why didn't you say, girls? Maud, you're excused. Enid," she shouted over her shoulder to where Enid was standing, "you're in."

After Maud had left them, the girls headed for the courtyard where the Great Wizard was waiting along with the rest of the school, they were surprised when 'Miss Cackle' approached. "Wait, girls," the elderly, though former, witch said with a smile. "Mildred, may I have that broomstick for a second?"

"What's wrong with it?" Mildred asked, knowing instantly that Agatha had something in mind but what could she do without her powers?

"Nothing, dear," Agatha replied. "I just wish to give it and you a good luck potion."

A good luck potion? No, no chance.

"I think I'll be alright," Mildred said.

"I, on the other hand, don't wish for you to suddenly lose control of the broomstick, Mildred. Don't forget we're all counting on you to perform well, the honour of the school depends on you or the Great Wizard will close us down," Agatha said, looking at Mildred with a soft but earnest smile though the effect was ruined by the woman's dark glint in her eyes.

"Take it, Mildred, please," Miss Drill ordered, clearly determined to make a good impression for the Great Wizard. For a moment, Mildred wanted to tell Miss Drill what was going on, but one look into the Flying teacher told her that wasn't a good idea; the woman was rushed on her feet, determined to get them all into the air, and she was in no mood for fairy tales; Maud was able to get away because of her goody-girl nature, but Mildred was far from her favourite student.

She wasn't going to listen.

Mildred took the bottle reluctantly, wondering what Agatha had done. There was no label on the potion bottle to tell her what it really was, but if this potion was something benevolent then she would be really surprised. Once she handed the bottle back, Agatha lifted up her right hand where she sprayed a fine potion towards the broom.

"There now, you and your temporary broomstick are blessed. Good luck, dear," Agatha smiled.

Mildred had to give this woman credit - she may have been cruel and selfish, but she was good at improvisation. But she had no choice but to get on the broomstick and fly, and hope that whatever Agatha had just done, it wouldn't prove to be a fatal mistake…

After the boring last minute pep-talk from Miss Drill, Mildred and the other girls were in the air performing for the Great Wizard. It seemed to be going well enough, but she was still tense even as she and the others flew around the school. She had no idea if Maud had managed to find Miss Cackle yet, the real Miss Cackle, and had either told her what was going on or was in the process of giving her a rushed account of how much of a mess today had become.

The passing of time made her even tenser, thanks to her alien nature Mildred knew how many seconds had passed since she'd told Maud about who 'Miss Cackle' really was. How had that woman come back anyway? But the more she thought about it, Mildred had to give the woman credit - she was not the type to give up easily.

The good thing was Enid had seen through the absence of Maud, and Mildred had filled her in on the basics before they'd taken flight, but the two girls hadn't had a proper chance to speak.

"How do you know Miss Cackle's really Agatha?" Enid called out to her when they were both in the air and could talk more freely.

"She's got no magic," Mildred replied, but before she could elaborate the broom she was riding on dropped sharply. "Whoa!"

The broom managed to right itself, but Mildred looked at it in fear and she turned back to face Enid. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"The broomstick, there's something wrong with it. The blessing….. that blessing Agatha gave… she knew I knew she was back. I've got to get down, quick-!"

Mildred suddenly screamed when the broomstick rose higher, completely out of control (she was dimly aware of Enid and some of the others calling out to her, but she was going too high up and going too fast for her to hear them properly). At first, the broomstick didn't go too fast, it just seemed to be echoing its true mistress's contempt for her inability to fly properly, but then things went from bad to worse.

The broomstick suddenly shot her to fantastic speeds that made her scream again, a loud, panicked scream (why was no-one doing anything? They were capable of things a normal human was incapable of doing, yet they were just standing or sitting down there, watching as she flew at breakneck speeds. Surely they could see something was wrong? Where was their common sense?) as she sped towards the school.

When the broomstick pulled away at the last minute, she didn't even have time to get her breath back. The broom hurtled away again in a jerky fashion that almost unseated her and caused her to fall to her death, and for a moment she was turned upside down making her look down at the ground with terror.

Mildred no longer had any confidence in getting down, and none of the so-called teachers who were meant to be protecting the students was lifting a finger to help her - even Miss Hardbroom, the one teacher to hold a grudge towards her, would have worked out by now that something was dangerously wrong - and she was beginning to realise nothing could be done. Mildred looked down at the ground, rapidly wondering how far down it was. She didn't want to jump down, not from any height, but right now she would rather break both of her legs than stay up here much longer.

She was too high up, and as she looked around for a rooftop or a spire she could grab hold to as the broomstick flew over the roofs and the turrets of the school, she realised that was out of the window as well; the broomstick was just going to too fast for her to grab hold of anything.

It was the same with trees - the broomstick was going too fast, and worse the broom was going no-where near a tree canopy that she could fall into to break the worst of her fall - sure, she'd probably have a few broken bones, plenty of lacerations, but she would rather have that than plummet to her death so far in the air.

Mildred was worried when the broom veered off and circled the school really fast before it accelerated towards the school wall, and she screamed as she tried frantically to either pull it up or mentally command the broom to stop, but it ignored her. As the broom raced towards the wall, she saw the teachers and she glared at them desperately.

"Get me down from here, you primitives!" she screamed deciding that the time for charades was over, but the broomstick suddenly speeding upwards so fast caught her by surprise, so she had to hold on for dear life as the broom shot up higher, like a rocket. She sped past the clock face and the spire of the weather vane atop the tower, and climbed higher and higher until even she couldn't estimate just how far into the air she'd gone, but luckily she was nowhere near the top of the atmosphere.

The broomstick came to a stop and Mildred took a few deep breaths while her insides tried to get used to not being thrown around any longer. She was about to check her hearts to see how they were doing, though she could feel the double beat in her chest go at an all-time high when the broom suddenly jerked around like it was in the grip of a terrible seizure. To her horror, the handle of the broomstick pulled upwards until it was pointed vertically into the air, and she suddenly slid down the shaft of the broomstick.

NO!

Desperately, Mildred grabbed hold of the handle with both hands while her feet were left to dangle. Rapidly she tried to estimate the tensile strength of the cloak she was wearing as it flapped against her body in the thin air, and she discounted it at once - the cloak was designed for appearance and wasn't truly designed for toughness, so she couldn't use it as a crude parachute. She looked down the dizzying height from where she was all the way to the ground when the broom suddenly cracked and caught fire, burning her hands as the flames shot through the handle to the back.

Mildred screamed as the broom gave way and she fell to the ground, and as she tried to catch her breath the broomstick exploded into burning cinders and she continued to fall to the ground.

As she fell, she looked over her shoulder and she saw something that made her re-think her people's belief that religion was just a primitive load of superstition based on faith.

Enid Nightshade, her yellow lined black cloak flapping with the speed of her own broomstick, was flying towards her. "Get ready to take my hand!" she called out.

Mildred prepared herself mentally, knowing she had only one chance and she had to get it right. She closed her eyes for a second, concentrating on the local time to slow it down a touch so then Enid wouldn't notice a thing, and she reached out for Enid's own outstretched hand.

For a moment the two girls made contact, but as they tried to strengthen their holds there was a flash of light and suddenly Mildred was blown away from Enid by a few feet and she continued falling down towards the Earth.

Mildred's mind raced as she tried to work out what had happened, what magic had been used. She had known the potion Agatha had given her would do anything but bless her, but she'd been coerced into taking it, but it seemed to have repelled her from Enid like two South magnetic poles. She could hear Enid shouting above her, and when the girl tried to grab onto her waist to pull her out of the fall and onto the comparative safety of her own broom she was repelled again.

On the ground, all of the girls were looking up in panic, talking to their neighbours in fear for Mildred's life, though in the background Drusilla Paddock was looking at Ethel in disbelief - she knew Ethel didn't like Mildred and wanted her out, but to go this far…. But then she saw the look of shock on the blonde witch's face, and Drusilla knew, while Ethel could be an actress when the situation needed it, she wasn't capable of faking that look of shock. So she had nothing to do with this.

The Great Wizard meanwhile was looking up into the air, squinting because the light from the sun was making it hard for him to focus properly, as the girl plummeted down to her certain death. He hadn't gotten a good impression of Miss Hubble in the brief time he'd come to know her, but he didn't want her to die simply to prove she belonged here. He turned a glare onto Miss Cackle, noting with surprise and disgust that the serene smile on her face. The Great Wizard simply couldn't believe the woman he had once respected just sat there with a smile on her face as one of her own students fell to her death like they were at a theatrical production!

"What's going on? This is a debacle!"

"I couldn't agree more," Miss Cackle replied, but a woman identical to the witch sitting next to him stepped into view, looking into the air seriously, "wouldn't you agree, Agatha?"

Agatha?

The Great Wizard instantly pulled away from the woman next to him as he looked between the two women, wondering which one was the real Ada and which one was Agatha, but they were both identical, and it was impossible for him to tell.

"Agatha?" The Miss Cackle sitting next to him smiled at the woman, but there was a tremor of surprise in her voice that made what she said next not ring true. "Don't be absurd, I'm Ada."

"No, I'm Ada."

The Great Wizard was getting more and more alarmed - there was a girl falling to her death and these two were playing a game. "Well, there's an easy way to settle this; Agatha has no powers. Whichever one of you is the true Headmistress, save that girl."

As he finished his order, the Great Wizard saw the petulant look on the face of the woman next to him.

The newly arrived Miss Cackle held out her hand to create a wave of magic to stop Mildred's fall, but when the magic reached the girl there was a flash and the girl continued on her screaming descent.

Real fear crossed the features of the woman the Wizard was convinced was Ada, and she called to her teachers. "What are you waiting for, help me!"

About time too, Mildred snarked mentally as the so-called teachers tried to stop her fall, but each time the magic of whatever that potion Agatha handed to her repelled their best efforts. Looking down at the ground as it came hurtling towards her or she was hurtling down towards it, Mildred felt melancholic, she hadn't expected it to end like this.

NO! Her mind screamed. I haven't come through all this to be stopped by a human throwing a tantrum because she didn't get what she wanted.

She spun around so her back was facing the ground - no matter how she looked at it, she was going to hit the ground anyway, but she didn't want to feel any pain to her face and lose consciousness, although the back of her skull would probably be smashed.

She smiled as she saw Enid flying down towards her, knowing she couldn't do anything to stop her fall, but trying nonetheless. Enid may have made her realise she could be a child, albeit a human child, but it had been fun to be near her. What was better and warmed her both of her hearts was Enid refused to give up trying.

Then she felt an almighty crash as she impacted on the ground, and she felt the ripples of pain which hit her like a giant hand swatting her aside. She felt the ground cave in under her head and her back, and it felt like hard stone while the rest of her body fell onto the grass. It was so sudden that she went into shock temporarily, but she definitely felt many of her bones break like twigs. She gasped as she felt one of her damaged ribs tear into one of her lungs, and she knew from her studies of physics the kinetic energy of her fall had just turned into mechanical energy, generating fractures and tears as it went through her body.

The shock was so sudden that she couldn't tell what was broken in her body, she felt numb all over but she knew that the damage was too great. She wouldn't be surprised if her spine had just broken in multiple places, to say nothing of her skull. She couldn't move.

She lay there and then she felt it, a tell-tale burn in her chest….

"It's started," she whispered; it was hardly a shock to her, she'd known this would happen to her when she felt the potion inside her, whatever it was (she was so going to have to improve her knowledge of the magical spells out there, but there were bound to be lists of potions and spells out there that the Cackle's library didn't have room to cover) repel the attempts to save her kick in. She was just relieved it was powerful enough to burn through the potion, or else things would turn nasty.

But the thought of going through with it…. it wouldn't be easy; unlike others of her race, she and several others were better at controlling the change, but going through their lives in such a short order did cause damage to the brain and to the mind, and she had only been in this body for a short time. There was nothing she could do about it in this case, and she couldn't make it to her bedroom. There was no-one to hear her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, she needed to get this one right….

Maud Spellbody had never been good at running, and yet she raced towards where Mildred had hit the ground, despite knowing what had happened and knowing logically there was no way Mildred could have survived that fall, she hoped that her friend's strangeness could help her.

Thinking about that...Maud recalled that strange feeling when she and Mildred had performed that switching spell, but she had just thought that Mildred had a higher heartbeat than she did, but there was something strange about her body. It had been... odd, being in a body that was not hers. But Mildred had refused to tell her anything else, except she was different. Maud was unsure why she was thinking about that; even the strangest person could not survive a fall like that.

When she had been younger, she had never been good at sports because her body was simply not built for them, yet all that was forgotten when she saw one of her best friends crash into the ground.

Maud realised that everyone else was rushing to where Mildred was lying on the ground as well, and to her left, she saw Enid running alongside her.

"I couldn't save her, she was falling, and I couldn't save her," the other girl kept saying between pants as she ran.

When they got to Mildred, Maud and Enid stopped in horror.

Mildred was lying on the ground, the stone around her cracked and indented with the outline of her body. She had cuts around her face, and it was clear looking at her legs and some of her torso that many of her bones were broken. Maud remembered growing up and hearing horror stories of what could happen to witches and wizards if their broomsticks failed and they fell from great heights, they would suffer terrible injuries. Looking at the broken body of her friend Maud could well believe it.

To their surprise, Mildred was still conscious, and that was more horrifying than seeing Mildred dead.

"Mildred?" she whispered in horror, tears gathering in her eyes.

Mildred smiled weakly. "Hey, Maud, Enid," she whispered, almost as though they were meeting up for breakfast or something mundane than something as horrifying as this.

Maud looked down at her broken friend, tears welling up in her eyes. "Millie, I'm so sorry," she apologised shakily, "I should have been up there with you-."

"Maud, there was nothing you could have done," Mildred interrupted, looking solemnly up at Maud, "I confronted Agatha, and she came back with a potion that repelled the magic or anyone's attempt to save me from falling; you couldn't have done anything any more than the teacher's late attempts to slow my fall."

The mention of the teachers and how they'd been so slow to stop this disappointed Maud, and she glared as they and the rest of the school rushed to where Mildred was lying on the ground, the distinctive red jumper Miss Cackle wore and the long blue robes that represented the Great Wizard among them. Maud turned around so she didn't have to look at them. They had failed to try to save Mildred's life, they'd fallen into Agatha's plan to take over the school, and now her friend was dying.

"What on earth happened?" she asked, looking wildly down at Mildred and at the distraught looking Enid.

Mildred groaned and gasped in agony, making Maud and Enid flinch at the sound. "Long story short; the broomstick bucked out of my control, and it took me on a ride that almost gave me a coronary and then it took me into the air where it burst into flames. Enid tried to stop my fall, but whatever Agatha gave me stopped her, and it stopped any spell from saving me."

Maud understood the logic but she didn't have to like it.

Mildred smiled at her, taking Maud back by the serenity. "Don't worry, I'll be up before you know it."

Maud shared a look with Enid. Mildred was taking this too well. "Millie," she said slowly, wondering if Mildred had hit her head and had become delirious, "you've crashed into the ground, and you've got dozens of broken bones. Even with magic, there's no way to repair such trauma-." She broke off when Mildred let out a coughing fit, and some blood leaked out of her mouth. It made Maud sick just to look at it and one glance at Enid's horrified face nearly did it for her.

"I know," Mildred coughed. "I know, but there's this…..this trick," she screwed her eyes up in pain, "….that happens when I'm about…..about to die... A way of cheating death."

Maud looked down at her, uncomprehending. She glanced at Enid and saw the same uncomprehending look in her face as well. What was Mildred talking about? By that point, the Great Wizard and Miss Cackle had arrived with the others, but Maud didn't want to look at them.

"Except...it means I'm going to...change," Mildred's voice was clear which meant she was lucid but Maud didn't know what she was talking about. "I'm not...going to see you... again. Not like this...," she added with a ghost of her old smile, "not with this face..."

Miss Hardbroom appeared by her shoulder, using a transfer spell to reach her. Maud looked at the teacher hoping she could push the confusion she was feeling over what Mildred was talking about to the side, wondering why she hadn't been around to stop this mess from happening; out of all the teachers Miss Hardbroom was by far the most pro-active, but she'd proven to be a disappointment. Maud pushed that thought of her mind, it wasn't going to help now.

Mildred coughed again, the sound it made was like listening to a chain slicked in oil as it was scraped against metal or stone, and then Felicity asked from behind, "What's that glow?"

Maud looked again and this time she saw it. Mildred's body was starting to glow, and glowing particles of light were swirling around Mildred's head and hands, and she heard a sound that was growing louder, an ethereal sound. It both warmed and chilled Maud to the bone, but she had to look away from the glow; it was as though she had just been placed close to the sun, blinding her.

"Mildred, what's going on?" Enid asked slowly, her voice scared. Maud knew how she felt.

"It's starting," she whispered and she closed her eyes, groaning in agony though Maud had a feeling the groan had something more to do with whatever was happening to her.

"What's starting?" Miss Hardbroom asked.

Mildred didn't seem to hear the question as the glow grew brighter and the particles of golden light began to swirl around her body, glowing brighter as though there was an inner fire inside her while the sound grew louder. She groaned as she clenched her fists tightly, and Maud, Enid and Miss Hardbroom backed away as - whatever was happening to Mildred was glowing brighter and swirling further from her body.

''Why is she glowing?"

"Is she on fire?"

'"Don't interfere," Mildred's voice, weak as it was, suddenly cracked like a whip. "Just... let it happen... I'll be alright in a bit..."

Mildred seemed to explode with the golden light which sounded like a rushing wind like a miniature tornado, making her scream with pain. The force made everyone else scream and jump back. Maud looked on, squinting through the light at Mildred's pained face as she screamed in agony, but she could see something else…..

Mildred was…..changing, the light was too bright for Maud to see what was really happening, so she couldn't be sure if it wasn't all some cruel trick of the light, but she could see something happening, and Mildred…..she was trying to fight it…..

Then the light died away leaving behind a girl dressed in Mildred's clothes and lying in the same spot where Mildred's broken body had been laying when she had crashed into the ground.

But she was not Mildred. She panted on the ground for a second, seemingly breathless, before-

"WHOA!" She cheered, taking all of them by surprise as they gazed down at her from where she was lying on the cracked ground, wearing suddenly torn clothes with shock, but the strange girl merely looked around with a mad laugh before her eyes lit up when she saw Maud. "So, how do I look?"

Doctor Who. I just had the idea of Mildred Hubble being a Time Lady who had survived the Time War, and I've had it for a while, and she had just regenerated into a new incarnation. I picture the new incarnation to resemble Emily Carey, who played the young Diana from Wonder Woman, and Grace Beauchamp in Casualty. I like Bella Ramsey, but I needed a way for her alien nature to be seen by everyone.

Drax is another Renegade Time Lord who was in the Doctor's class at the Academy, and then he left to become an engineer and a con-artist; in his third incarnation, he joined together with his future selves to steal the device which allowed so many incarnations to interact with each other in the first place.

There's more to come... and everyone learns a few things about the girl they thought they knew.