A tentative knock echoes on her classroom door. Miss Hardbroom glances up from her marking for a moment to snap her fingers to open the door before focusing again on her work.
She hears the tell-tale shuffling of boots that have not been tied properly. She suppresses an exhausted sigh and looks up to her charge, one Mildred Hubble holding a jar.
"Mildred Hubble."
"Hello, Miss Hardbroom.. I.. umm..." Mildred shuffles nervously and fidgets with the jar.
"You haven't turned anyone else into a pig, have you?" Impatience seeps into her tone as she is tired and just wants to retire to her chambers for the night.
Mildred's eyes widen and she shakes her head quickly "No, Miss Hardbroom!"
"Good. What is it then, girl?"
Mildred takes a deep breath.
"Well.. it's just.. you're short two frogs now because of me and I thought you might need more. I tried to get two but could only find the one though.." she says sheepishly as she holds up the jar for Hecate to take.
"Hmm.." Miss Hardbroom raises an eyebrow as she stands to accept the jar with both hands and she inspects the contents. A few leaves and sticks with some water in the jar with the frog.
She finds herself pleasantly surprised at this gesture, usually only the older girls know enough to replace ingredients they've wasted or damaged. Yet it wasn't even Mildred who wasted two frogs.
Mildred grins. "His name is Fred."
Hecate needs to suppress a roll of the eyes now as she thinks to herself:
"of course you named the frog"
Instead, she says "Indeed. Thank you, Mildred." Examining the frog itself more closely.
"Hold on.. is this..?"
Mildred shrugged "You're welcome, Miss Hardbroom." She moves to leave the room but stops short, looking at all the creatures in similar mason jars along the shelves of the potions laboratory.
"Miss Hardbroom?"
"Yes, Mildred Hubble?"
"Um.. well.. it's just.. you check them first though, right? The animals, I mean.. before you use them?" Mildred looks back to the stock and Hecate sees her concerned expression.
Hecate blinks at the girl. "Check them?"
"Yes, Miss Hardbroom.. to make sure that they aren't..." the girl trails off.
"Oh."
"To make sure they are not witches or wizards transformed?" Miss Hardbroom knows but wishes to confirm.
"Yes, Miss Hardbroom... it's just that.. Miss Gullet didn't check.. and she.."
Mildred bites her lip.
Hecate softens slightly as she remembers the repercussions of what could have happened had Enid Nightshade not grabbed the "frog" at the last second, and looks her charge in the eye.
"Mildred Hubble. Frog or not, I would never use you in a potion. Do you understand?"
Mildred visibly relaxes and looks up at her teacher. "Yes, Miss Hardbroom."
"Good. A proper witch always double checks the authenticity of her ingredients, Mildred Hubble. Now, back to your studies at once."
"Yes, Miss Hardbroom. Thanks." Mildred adds the last word with a shy grin and shuffles out of the room.
Hecate waves the door back shut and returns her attentions to the frog, removing it from the jar and holding it carefully in her hands to examine more clearly.
She finds that this is not just a frog, but an English Northern Pool Frog thought to be only found in the Norfolk area and highly endangered. A rare find, indeed. She wonders if Mildred even knows what she found.
Hecate cleans the jar with magic and transforms it into a proper tank. Placing Fred back inside, she knows a frog this rare should be used for conservation purposes and not potions. She transfers the tank with it's new inhabitant to the specialized storage area for ingredients and wildlife restoration equipment.
Hecate returns to her marking and bites her tongue not to say it out loud.
"Sometimes, Mildred Hubble... sometimes you're actually alright."