The Two Worst Witches.

Unexpected Visitor.

Miss Cackle walked through the corridors of the academy. It had been a very long day, the incident with Belladonna Bindweed enough to make what she'd hoped would be a productive day and turned into an absolute disaster.

Amelia had always been wary of teaching the portal spells, the way they could be misused was enough to make them absolutely dangerous. Teaching those spells to someone like Belladonna was just asking for trouble. The headmistress was also concerned by the damage those portals had done to the fabric of time and space. The counter spell was repairing the damage but it would be a while before they could be cast again.

Amelia was just walking down the passage that lead to her rooms, when she saw a portal appear. Amelia raised her hands to dispel it when it vanished, leaving someone in its wake.

It was a girl. A girl wearing the old uniform of Cackles before the change from short sleeves to long grey sleeves and the sash wasn't thick, it was narrow.

But it was the girls face that surprised Amelia.

The face of the girl who'd stopped her twin sister of 3 separate occasions, the girl who'd saved Cosies' tearoom from becoming an incinerator, the girl who'd rescued Algernon Rowan Webb from frogdom, the most infuriating but endearing girl apart from her cousin.

Mildred Hubble.

But that meant….she'd come from the past, it was the only explanation she could reach at this point.

Milded found herself in the same place, but it was late at night. Disorientated from the trip, she staggered, only to fall in the arms of someone she knew.

Miss Cackle. But she looked…older, more wrinkles were around her eyes and her hair was a silver colour. But her eyes still had that twinkle, that zest, the love for life the headmistress had.

" Mildred, are you alright ?" Miss Cackle asked concerned. It wasn't unusual for people that were transported in time to be disorientated and Mildred had never been great when it came to balance. That was when she noticed the badge. So, this was the Mildred who'd become one of Cackle's greatest students.

Mildred nodded, her head starting to clear. " Yes, I think so. What happened ? Why are you so…so….?" Mildred was afraid to voice the question but the headmistress answered her with a grin.

" So old ?" She finished. Mildred blushed and nodded. " Yes, well, that would happen when 7 years have passed."

Mildred looked at her, her mouth open as she mouthed 7 years before she squeaked. " 7 years, how did that happen ?"

Amelia had questions of her own and helped Mildred to stand. Together the two witches walked along the corridors as Amelia asked her what happened.

" I was patrolling the corridors, looking for ideas to bring to the staff and help any students that needed it, when I saw this swirling mass of magic. It was blue and it reminded me of the portal magic you taught us in 1st year."

Amelia nodded thoughtfully. It made sense, the time portal hadn't dissipated as she'd hoped, it had pulled Mildred through time and space. Now she had a problem, how to send her back. Time and space were not easy things to manipulate, the school wouldn't be able to handle another portal for another 2 weeks.

Mildred was stuck here.

Curse that Bindweed girl.

" Miss Cackle ?"

Amelia shook herself into the here and now. Mildred was her responsibility and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep the girl away from the rest of the school. Being cruel wasn't Amelia's cup of tea, besides, Mildred wasn't the most patient or the most easiest girl to hide in the first place. Memories of Heckitty Broomhead came to her mind, she only hoped the sharp featured witch never darkened the halls of the academy again.

" Yes Mildred ?" She asked.

" I um I was wondering what is going to happen ?"

Good question.

An hour later, Mildred was sitting in bed. Her mind going over what the headmistress had told her. 7 years, that meant in this time she was 21 years old. Miss Cackle hadn't told her anything about what her 21 year old self was doing, whether or not she was still a magical practitioner. Frankly, she didn't want to know in case it changed or affected her own future.

The news of the time portal spell, how an arrogant student had tried performing it without any issues wasn't a total surprise. Arrogance was a trait shared by quite a few witches and wizards, particularly those born from magical families. Mildred knew quite a few of them - Drusilla Paddock, Ethel Hallow, Egbert Helibore, Baz and Gaz, Agatha Cackle and her cronies and to an extent, her own friends - Maud, Enid and Jadu, although those 3 didn't flaunt it as much as the others.

What did surprise her was the fact that a young witch was so stupid to perform a spell like that, even Ethel wasn't stupid enough to do this, whoever the young witch was Mildred was going to hex her to oblivion.

The news H.B was going to come back in a few days wasn't something she really wanted, but she needed all the help she could get. Mildred wasn't sure where she and the potions teacher stood, in her time at Cackles the potions teacher had mellowed a little bit.

Would that be the case here ?

Mildred hoped so.

Mildred also noticed the paradox she'd thought up earlier - her time. She'd better get used to it. Now, she decided to get some sleep. The young witch was very tired and wanted to get some sleep. Miss Cackle intended to tell the rest of the school about her in the morning.

Not something the usually shy witch was looking forward to.

Clicking her fingers at the light, Mildred willed the candle to go out.

In the morning…

" I wonder what all this is about." Cressie asked her friends.

All the students of Cackles were seated in their chairs in the great hall. They were chatting together, wondering what was going on.

Mona looked at her friends, " I wonder who that cloaked woman is." She gestured to the stage where a figure, clearly a woman, was seated away from the staff. She was dressed in a long flowing black cloak with a cowl. The rest of the staff were chatting and glancing at her curiously.

Hettie looked curiously at the woman as well, wondering if it was her imagination that the woman glanced in her direction occasionally.

"Is it just me, or is that woman staring at me ?" She asked uneasily.

Mona and Cressie looked and noticed the figure giving Hettie a lot of attention. " No, she is looking at you. But why, there are many more students in the hall."

There was no more time for further speculation as Miss Cackle walked in and silence fell around the hall. The headmistress was both cheerful and a little worried.

This wasn't going to be easy.

As she moved to the stage, she gestured for the cloaked witch to move towards her.

" Yesterday, Miss Belladonna Bindweed," everyone noticed the jerk the figure made at the name," miscast the time portal spell. I was able to stop the portal getting out of control but I wasn't able to stop the consequences of the spell." Miss Cackle took a deep breath, " The portal brought forward a student from the past, 7 years in the past to be precise. She is going to be here for another 2 weeks, so I decided to let her move through the school without fear of reprisal or the harassment of some of the students."

To the figure, she said. " Take off the cowl, Mildred Hubble"

Mildred….? Hettie thought, this is a dream.

The witch took off the cowl, revealing the face of Mildred Hubble. Judging from the look on her face she was both fighting the desire to run and the desire to scream at the insanities that were surrounding her.

Mildred had been fighting nerves all morning, not looking forward to this in the slightest. Now, she was revealed. She'd been shocked to hear the name of the student - Bindweed. Not Betty Bindweed, she prayed. Mildred remembered all of her last meetings with her.

All the students looked at her with shock, they knew the legend of the former worst witch, a legacy taken up by her younger cousin.

But they wondered what it meant for Cackles.

A/N What do you think ?