AN: Thanks everyone for reviewing :) I didn't expect to update this so soon but the creativity just keeps flowing, I hope it continues. All errors are mine. Special thanks goes to NCD :) Enjoy.
Chapter 2
Magical Mastery
Constance rubbed her temples slowly with her fingers to try and remove the tension in her skull, though it was having no effect. It wasn't like anything she had felt before but it was slowly growing stronger and stronger, pulling her focus further and further away from the present and making her worry about things that were never really there. Usually the same pain meant trouble or danger was imminent but there hadn't been anything to substantiate its claim. Maybe Miss Bats Fire Festival idea, however trivial and mundane she found it to be, would actually do some good for the girls, allow them to release their energy and focus on their studies. She smiled ever so slightly at the very thought of her and Davina agreeing on something.
Suddenly the door burst inwards as Imogen's gaze met her own. "Miss Drill what have I said about-"
"There's a fight, in the outer grounds between Enid and Ethel." Constance didn't need to be told twice. She crossed her arms, inhaled a sharp breath and vanished.
"You better take back what you said about my father!" Ethel yelled, thrusting her hands forwards and releasing a bolt of energy Enid's way. She held her hands forward and muttered a charm to enable her shield but, by the time the final word passed her lips, the spell hit sending her flying to the cobblestone floor. Ethel smiled as Mildred stepped forwards. "You need to stop this!"
"Stay out of it Hubble Bubble or you'll be next." Ethel's attack released and sent Enid down a second time. "Not so tough now are you? You want to know why I'm better than you. Because I study hard, just because my father is chairman doesn't mean I get a free pass through life!"
"Yes it does!" Enid screeched, flinging her arms from her side and releasing a huge blast of white magic. Ethel closed her eyes, expecting to feel it burn her skin, for her back to hit the floor, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw Miss Hardroom standing before her, her uninjured hand extended outwards, holding the white ball of light at bay.
Mildred's jaw physically dropped. Everyone knew that HB was powerful but had never seen it so clearly demonstrated before. Their audible gasps sounded when she curled her fingers over it, crushing the orb into nothing but mist.
"Ethel Hallow and Enid Nightshade!" She shrieked, "To Miss Cackle's office at once! And as for the rest of you who find this entertaining…" She turned to the observing pupils. "Tonight you will all go without dinner and will write five-hundred lines each 'solving arguments with magic is irresponsible but watching is pure stupidity.'"
"Yes Miss Hardbroom."
Mildred and Maud waited patiently for their friend to emerge from Miss Cackle's office. Fighting inside the Academy was a definitely not allowed and using magic to do so was even worse. There were so many repercussions and ways that the teachers could justify their decision by using the witches' code and knowing that Miss Hardbroom had entered with the two meant that Miss Cackle's good nature could be swayed.
"I'm worried," Mildred admitted to Maud who nodded her head. "Enid could be expelled for doing this."
"Ethel could as well," Drusilla spoke across from them. She had also been waiting eagerly with the two for a verdict.
"I don't think so," Mildred stated making Maud hope that it wouldn't spark another heated debate. "With her father being Chairman of the Board of Governors there is no way that Miss Cackle would expel her." She wanted to add that Ethel's little teacher's pet relationship with Miss Hardbroom guaranteed her safety too but she held her tongue and, just before Drusilla could reply, the door opened.
Both girls exited silently, neither one looking to the other as Ethel met with Drusilla and the two started for the dormitories. "What happened?" Mildred dared to ask.
"The usual, long speech about codes of conduct and the witches' code," her joke stopped with Mildred's glare. "Confinement for the next month in my room, I'm only allowed outside for meal times or classes. Miss Cackle said if I break the rules just once more then I'm out of here."
"What about Ethel?" Maud asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Same deal but she has to clean the potion laboratory and is only in her room for two weeks. She's nowhere near getting kicked out," Enid smirked slightly. "It only added to my previous point, no matter how much she stuffs up she'll be graduating at the end of it and that's that." She crossed her arms in true Miss Hardbroom tradition before looking at Maud who adjusted her glasses. She was waiting for one of them to back her up, to say that the hand she had been dealt with was cruel and unjustifiable considering what Ethel received in return. But neither of them followed, neither wanted to comment.
"Thanks for the back-up," she sighed, rolling her eyes and pivoting on her heel.
"Enid, we just…there's nothing we can do about it!" Mildred called after her quickly disappearing friend as Maud placed a hand on her forearm. "Come on, we better go and get some more study done for tomorrow."
"Oh great, I had almost forgotten about the test, Maud," Mildred sighed. "Why did you have to remind me?" Luckily Maud took her remarks with a smile rather than a retort and they both made haste for the library.
"Ethel Hallow!" Constance snapped; pacing up and down in front of Miss Cackle's desk as the Headmistress used an oversized fan to cool her face.
"Of all the girls in the academy to cause havoc it was Ethel Hallow? I expect it from Enid, but Ethel? What could have possessed her to do this."
"I am not sure, Miss Hardbroom, but from what the girls explained it looks like an argument that had become."
"Out of control," Hardbroom finished making Amelia wonder where this was leading, while secretly knowing the exact destination. "The girls are the ones out of control." She turned and walked to the fireplace before turning again and walking back towards the wall. "Standards, Headmistress, they are not being met and we need to tackle this issue head on. Higher standards, traditional values, what the academy has always done in the past should well and truly work now. We cannot let it carry on like this or, soon, we'll have every girl from the second year class in their rooms on solitary confinement."
"Constance," Amelia interjected, making the deputy stop and turn to face her. "We already have a solution."
"Not that silly Fire Festival, Amelia," she dismissed. "Do you really think that making a giant bonfire in the middle of the woods and getting the girls to sing and dance around it like apes is going to help control their behaviour?" Amelia didn't reply, she remained firm and Constance's mouth drooped a little. "You are really going ahead with this, aren't you?"
"It's a creative solution to our problem and, I feel, that Miss Bat might have a valid point."
Constance, however she wanted to deny it, had once thought that the idea may work but the display she had seen between Enid and Ethel just moments ago had removed what little confidence she had in the idea entirely. She started pacing again and Miss Cackle tracked her movements with her eyes before asking the question that had been playing on her mind since the morning's burn incident. "Constance, what's wrong?"
She didn't answer and Amelia silently cursed herself for expecting one to come, after all she was a woman of mystery who locked her emotions and feelings in a box behind walls of stone, guarded with high towers during the greatest wars. Archers surrounded her heart, firing at whoever dared to try and pry into her life. They were slaughtered at the spot or forced to retreat and ask no more. Then Constance stopped, turned to Amelia and opened her mouth, trying to force the words from her lips, to tell her about the feeling that was still prodding at the back of her mind but she didn't. Talking about a feeling with no substance, or evidence, to prove that it was for a valid reason seemed trivial and useless. She didn't need Miss Cackle fusing over her mental state or telling her to take time off because it could be just stress.
"I'm fine, Miss Cackle," she answered before sealing her lips and gritting her teeth. "Now, if you'll excuse me I need to prepare for a potions examination tomorrow for the second years." Her arms crossed and she disappeared just in time for Miss Bat to open the door with her arms full of magazines, sheet music and ancient novels.
"Miss Cackle, I have a few ideas for the Festival," she spoke cheerfully before setting everything out on her desk.
The materials littered any available space on her desk and she was both surprised and alarmed when Fenella and Griselda walked through the door carrying two boxes full of more stuff. Letting out a sigh she took a hold of her cups handle and brought the warm tea to her lips. It was going to be a long afternoon.
The following morning Mildred sat inside her usual seat in the potion laboratory, wondering what was on the other side of the white papers on her desk and whether she would be able to pass. Miss Hardbroom's gaze inspecting each student and making sure they looked to her did little to comfort the girl whose feet were shaking in her shoes.
"This is a two part examination," Constance began. "Firstly, you must answer the theoretical questions on the papers provided before locating the ingredients that you need on your benches, brew a levitation potion and use it on the black feathers with your partner." Mildred looked to Maud out of habit and her friend gave a reassuring smile that told her it would all be okay.
"You may start your test…" she paused, observed her students before placing her still bandaged hand on the hour glass timer and turning it over. "Now."
AN: Thanks for reading :)
