Disclaimer - I don't own the franchise of the Worst Witch, just this little idea I had in my mind. I've posted this on my birthday, just to give something to you.

Nessie?

The next day, despite not seeing any sign of the legendary monster in the loch after being stuck on the boat for an hour already, the feeling of magic in the air became more stronger and more potent for Mildred; the young witch may have been inexperienced on how to gauge it, but she could feel it. To everyone in the boat the lake as vast and empty looking, not helped by its murky colouring but for Mildred the lake was far from empty. Just feeling the magic in the air around the loch was the only thing stopping Mildred from getting bored in the little tourist boat. There were about 10 people in the boat, including the Hubbles, and they were too busy taking in the massive lake they were on in the boat to pay attention to the others. Mildred herself was too busy taking photos of the loch and the surrounding countryside to really bother with the others in the boat, she had only spent a minute or so aware of them before she simply decided to put them out of her mind. Contrary to what some of her peers and teachers at the academy thought, Mildred Hubble was observant. The other people in the boat were the usual mix - some who were 'oohing' and 'awwing' at the loch and its beauty, those who were just humouring the ones who were happy, and those who didn't care.

Most of them were looking at the loch with eager wonder, their hands holding either pairs of binoculars or cameras, ready to take a picture of the monster. But a few of them weren't really bothered about the sights around them. Mildred knew that for some people tourism was just a way to gaze at different places for a short time with the excuse of wanting a holiday, and then they could return to their own lives, and truthfully she ignored them. She could have spoken to them, but truthfully she didn't want to. What would be the point when in a few days she and her mother would be leaving for the next part of their holiday? It wasn't likely she would keep in touch with them anyway, and besides, after the turmoil of the last few days of term Mildred wasn't in the mood to speak to anyone who didn't know anything about magic just yet. She wanted to have some time to herself between now and the day she went back to Cackles, maybe some time she'd meet someone to talk to. But really, would such a friendship last? At Cackles she had access to a call mirror, but that wasn't good enough. She had no mobile phone, no internet, no technology at Cackles. How would she keep in touch?

Mildred shook her head and turned her attention back to the holiday. She and her mother had been on holidays many times before, but there was a limit on where they could go on Julie's pay, and besides Mildred wasn't complaining. She knew only too well how much cash her mother had needed to pay for her time at Cackles, and not for the first time Mildred asked herself what would have happened if she'd taken Miss Pentangle's offer of a scholarship; she still wasn't sure about the woman, and why out of all the other girls at the school Miss Pentangle had decided to offer a scholarship to her. What would have changed, would she and Maud still be friends? Would someone finally take her to the side and help her with her basic and still growing knowledge of magic and witching society? Or would Pentangle just shove her aside, put her on a shelf and just admire her from afar without giving a thought about her mental wellbeing? And yet…..the thought of finally excelling and proving her detractors wrong and making them choke and grimace when they finally saw her excel at magic - as much as she liked her, Mildred sometimes thought Miss Cackle didn't really want her there despite giving her a chance, Ada Cackle would really need to be stupid not to think Mildred hadn't seen those annoyed looks sent her way - was compelling to her. But what if she disappointed Miss Pentangle?

Once again Mildred wished she'd had the opportunity to speak to the two students the visiting headmistress had brought with her for the Spelling Bee competition and get some answers from them, but there was no such luck - Miss Hardbroom had put her and Ethel through their paces and kept such a close eye on them both Mildred had felt trapped. Even when Pentangle had told her during the interval of the competition when she'd been on her own while HB hovered around Ethel that she had a gift, Mildred was not sure if the woman was just being kind or just telling her what she wanted to hear from an older witch.

One thing was for sure, if she had accepted and the woman was nothing like she seemed when they'd first met and that all Pentangle's promises and her saying Mildred was gifted and Pentangles school would be happy to have her on as a student were empty and she was just like Cackle and HB and virtually everyone else at the school she went to, then Mildred would really have been disappointed.

It was bad enough she was disappointing Miss Cackle, but it was the sincerity of Miss Pentangle which was the primary reason why Mildred hadn't accepted the scholarship offer, though she had been tempted by it.

The thought of actually being in a magical school where everybody else would be more or less like her (still not sure if that was the truth) had been compelling, but in the end Mildred had politely refused.

Mildred knew how hard Cackle was fighting to keep her at the academy, and while her overall grades were anything but awe inspiring, she was learning which was something to be proud of. What she would really appreciate, what would really be good, is if the teachers didn't constantly pressure her.

Mildred shook her head out of her reverie and focused on the loch, deciding to simply forget the promised scholarship even if she asked herself what life would've been like had she accepted, wondering what was hidden inside the murky waters. Yep, there was definitely magic here, she could feel it but she lacked the knowledge to truly understand it. I never thought I'd say this inside my own head, Mildred thought to herself. I wish Miss Hardbroom were here.

Of all the places where there was a mystery loch ness and the monster supposedly under its surface was something that always made Mildred think, and when she'd started going to Cackles to learn how to become a witch, she'd learnt she already had magical talents such as being able to feel magic and see things magical ordinary people couldn't. Mildred had already told her mother about being able to feel the magic around the loch, but while Julie wasn't a witch herself - Mildred still hadn't given up on learning where her magic had come from and why, but for the time being she would stop thinking of her mum as a witch who had decided to abandon magic for unknown reasons - and couldn't give Mildred advice, she could tell Mildred to keep an eye out in case she saw something in the waters of the loch.

While everybody in the boat couldn't see the magic, Mildred could. She could see areas in the loch where water was patchy, by which she meant the water was still blackish and yet there were parts where the water seemed to glow.

"C'mon mom, dad, this place is boring!" A whisper, but loud enough for the tour guide and the boat's driver to hear came from a rather spoilt looking girl. There would always be one no matter where you toured.

Mildred and Julie had heard the girl constantly complain about the loch, blissfully ignorant and uncaring about the wonders of the lake they were speeding across and uncaring about the countryside. Mildred hadn't bothered going over to the girl, say hello and be pleasant to distract her and make her shut up. The girl reminded her vividly of Ethel Hallow in attitude, but even Ethel was more preferable to this girl. At least Ethel knew when to stew quietly.

It was the beauties of the loch which had been Mildred's escape from being near Ethel version 2, otherwise she would have gone insane. Mildred was enjoying herself - she had known from the off the chances of actually seeing Nessie were small, but hey she and her mum were having a day out. But the more magic she could feel and see around them the more convinced she was that there was something magical in the lake, and the further they travelled though Mildred found herself more immersed in seeing the magical patches grow larger in size and in length.

Julie noticed her daughter's attentive frown tinged with curiosity and leaned in so she could whisper into Mildred's ear. "You still see those patches of magic in the water, Millie?"

Mildred, whose attention was fixed on a really large patch, nodded before she spoke, "Yes. We're passing over a large one now," she added.

"Hmm, I wish I could see them for myself," Julie looked at her daughters face then looked out over the waters of the loch. "What do they look like on the water?"

Mildred was silent as she thought of a best description"Imagine you've dropped a load of luminous glitter into a tub of dark coloured water and you've got your answer," Mildred replied at last though she knew the answer wasn't completely accurate. Finally she decided to give up on the patches in the lake and just spend time with her mum. She had just turned away from the railings and settled down next to Julie, ready to take snapshots of the shoreline of the loch when she heard it. A voice, deep and resonant spoke gently to her.

"Mildred?"

Mildred almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice, and it made Julie jump as well. Luckily no one else on the boat noticed. "Mildred? Millie, you okay?" Julie asked. But Mildred didn't answer her mother. The voice made it hard for her to focus on other sounds nearby.

"Mildred? Mildred Hubble, please you must help me. I need your help. Help me!"

Mildred gritted her teeth and scrunched her eyes up in pain as the voice's volume rose up a few notches. "Mildred?" The young witch looked up into her mother's worried eyes. "What's wrong?"

"You can't hear it?"

Julie's look became more worried. "Hear what?"

Mildred whispered; she'd noticed a few people look in their direction and she needed to keep this as quiet as possible. "A voice. It said my name and it needs my help. Didn't you hear it?"

"Mildred - I didn't hear a voice. Do you think it might be a, you know, an m-a-g-i-c thing?"

The thought had crossed Mildred's mind and she couldn't do anything more than nod. It had to be something related to magic, but she didn't know what. "Okay," Julie said.

"What? You believe me?"

"Mildred, you might be a witch, but you are still my daughter. If you can hear a magical voice, then I believe you, but please don't do anything really stupid like you did last time."

The pre-teen winced, wondering if it'd been a mistake to tell her mother about her misunderstanding of thinking Agatha had taken Ada's place and put the rightful headmistress into the same cottage she'd spent the past year without realising that Agatha was still in the cottage with Miss Gullet outside which had led to a really dangerous meeting where her powers were almost taken, and she'd been forced to trudge for miles alone in the dark before been sent home by Hardbroom.

But Julie had needed to know the full story of what had happened, why Hardbroom had sent her home, why her uniform was dirty and she was disheveled and tired, and she had not been impressed that her daughter had risked her life even if her intentions were pure and good. Mildred remembered only too well the bollocking she'd gotten from her mother, and she wasn't keen to have a repeat anytime soon.

She smiled back at Julie. "I won't mum, I promise," she said.

Julie's look of disbelief spoke louder than words.

The voice spoke again, and Mildred closed her eyes as she tried to drown it out. "Mildred? Mildred, please don't go. Mildred, come back. COME BACK!"

By the time the boat returned to where it had set off from Mildred jumped off the boat and headed away, delighted to get off and away from the voice which had been shouting so loud in her mind that she'd almost screamed for silence. Only Julie Hubble had noticed the way Mildred's eyes were screwed so tightly in pain, how she gently but firmly rubbed her temples as if soothing a massive headache, and she could see the way her daughter had gritted her teeth so tightly her jaw had nearly cracked.

After terrifying her mother with the voice in her head, Mildred tried to settle down in their holiday home and tried to get some of her homework done to distract her. She could still hear the voice inside her head, it had been slowly driving her insane for nearly 3 hours. The voice was getting impatient and louder, and the longer it went on the longer it eroded Mildred's patience. Between trying to concentrate on her work and the never ending nagging of the voice, it was a miracle Mildred hadn't gone mad already, but there was still time.

"Mildred. Come to the shore of the loch, and I will meet you. Please Mildred, you must help me before its too late. Mildred? Mildred!"

"SHUT UP! Shut up you stupid voice and leave me alone!" Mildred finally shouted when she reached her wits end, scrunching her eyes up in agony as she tried to force the voice out of her mind. Her shout disturbed Julie, who came running in from the kitchen, only to find her daughter rocking backwards and forwards in the same seat where she'd left her, her books on magic scattered haphazardly around her along with pieces of paper and pens and pencils. Mildred's eyes were clenched tightly shut, and she was holding her hair so hard Julie was afraid her daughter would tear it all out.

Julie gently took her daughter into her embrace so as not to startle her. "That voice again, Millie?" she whispered, but she knew it was a stupid question since the voice had been driving Mildred crazy all day.

Mildred nodded. "I dunno what it is, mum. It's also getting louder."

Julie but her lip, but she couldn't make any suggestions. She knew that doctors wouldn't know what to do about magical ailments and she didn't know any magical doctors. Besides what would she say to them anyway? Her daughter was hearing voices over Loch Ness; they'd commit Mildred and lock her away and poke and prod her before they did anything really constructive.

Not for the first time she wished her daughter hadn't learnt about magic and the existence of Cackles academy, though it had been quite hard to hide since Mildred had been able to see the place long before Maud crashed into their balcony. Still at least her daughter was becoming something she'd fantasised and dreamt of for years even if she was suffering from a few hurdles. Julie could understand why Mildred wasn't as good as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies; it had nothing to do with intellect or how well her daughter could read, Julie could remember that parents evening she'd attended during the year, how she'd spoken to the Nightshades and the Spellbody's. Both sets of parents of her daughters friends had known from the off she was non magical, but they were mature to know it wasn't her fault or her daughters for her heritage, in fact they'd thought it was fantastic their own daughters were friends with Mildred. Mr Nightshade in particular was delighted his wayward daughter had finally settled down and had found friends instead of wandering from one school after another like she had before settling down in Cackles, for which he was grateful for. And the Spellbody's were just as pleased that Maud had found a friend in Mildred.

Julie had asked them why Mildred had problems at school and they'd told her that from a young age, well an age their children could walk and talk and understand maths and how to read and write, they all taught their children the basics of magic from spells to potions. And she'd understood that Maud and Enid, despite how friendly they were, had an advantage over Mildred in that they had passed the stage where their abilities were all over the place. It wasn't Mildred's fault for which Julie had been thankful for. Mildred just needed time to learn how to become a witch, but did she have that time? Well her daughter was tenacious, determined, and prepared for the long haul even from time to time she was overwhelmed by the pressure put on her shoulders to succeed.

Julie smiled and gently prodded Mildred's shoulder to make her look up. "Dinner's ready soon, get the table ready," she said when Mildred looked up and nodded.

Pleased to have a job to do Mildred set the table, got cutlery and place mats out and ready. The voice didn't bother Mildred when she was eating, which was a relief because Mildred was unsure about what she could do if driven mad enough. She also wondered if the voice, whoever or whatever it belonged to, had finally gotten the message that constantly hounding her was not going to help.

But at the back of her mind, she knew she would need to visit the shore of the loch. She needed too, to find out what the voice was and who it belonged too before she went mad. She didn't want to lose her cool again like she had earlier on, especially in a room or on a boat full of people.

The light highland breeze whipped through Mildred's hair as she sat on her broomstick. She'd brought her broomstick with her so then she could practice her flying technique and improve her repertoire. Last year she'd almost been kicked out of the academy she worked so hard to stay in because of so many factors, and broomstick flying was one of them. Mildred wasn't going to let that happen to her again. She was going to become a witch even if it killed her, but she knew that her friends and everyone else at the academy had covered and bypassed the same hurdles which were dragging her down. Still she was managing to learn.

But bringing the broomstick had been a fight and a half when she'd told her mother she planned to practice her flying. Julie had wanted the holidays to be as magic free as possible, she didn't want every waking moment for Mildred to work on her magic without paying her any attention, and Julie was still put out that Mildred had just vanished to deal with Agatha Cackle and Miss Gullet the way she had, but she was pleased the expulsion had been overturned. They had made a deal. Mildred would work on her spells, potions, and flying skills after the two had spent time together, and Mildred was okay with that.

Her mother had been hurt that she'd just left to save Cackles with only a note left behind to say what was going on, but in the end Julie had been persuaded to let her go back to Cackles. Mildred sometimes wondered if her being a witch, and studying magic away from home was causing a rift between her and her mother, but while she wanted to succeed as a witch, she wanted her mother to be there with her.

The holiday was only a week in, but Mildred had been practicing ever since. She was always careful when she flew, always making sure no one could see her; she might be sure only magical people could see other witches and wizards on broomsticks but since her own broom had been snapped when she'd crashed into that tree, Mildred wasn't going to take any chances.

But tonight she was heading straight for the loch. Landing on the shore surrounded by rocks, Mildred looked left and right in case someone had seen her, then she walked close to the waters of the lake.

"Mildred? Are you there?"

Feeling a little silly, Mildred said clearly, "I'm here. Who are you, voice?"

The water glowed a rich light green-blue colour before the brightness of the water grew until Mildred had to cover her eyes to block out the glow The sound of bubbles popping on the surface reached her ears, but the young witch couldn't see them. They sounded much like the cauldrons at Cackles coming to boil. The surface of the loch parted like the pages of a book being open halfway. Mildred jumped back in fear, letting out a small scream even as she stumbled across the pebbles on the beach for shelter. Then there was silence apart from what sounded like water trickling and moving around like at an adventure park.

"Mildred," the voice that she'd heard boomed out over the beach, shocking Mildred in its intensity. The voice seemed to roll over her like the sea washing across a beach. "Mildred," the voice repeated, much more gently but not lacking its intensity. Had the….being sitting in the water sensed her unease at the sound of its voice? Seemed that way.

Gathering her courage Mildred left her shelter behind the rock she'd found and gasped when she beheld what she was seeing. She gaped in awe, fear and wonder as she looked at the massive creature so close to the shoreline.

It was like a massive aquatic dinosaur she'd seen often in books, a Plesiosaur which made sense since Plesiosaurs were believed to be the Loch Ness monster from what she'd read, but this wasn't a dinosaur. This was no out of focus photograph, this was a real creature, like a cross between an aquatic dinosaur and a dragon. It was dark coloured, but she couldn't tell if it was black or some other colour. It was also like a metal mesh, with the scales standing out against its skin. All those pictures of the Loch Ness monster came to Mildred's mind, and as she let her eyes trace its form she could indeed see the resemblance. The head, the long neck, the rounded body…..But those pictures were out of focus, this was real life and the 'monster' was right in front of her.

The creature had a massive body and an enormous neck which was as thick as three oak trees and stretched up quite high to support a massive head that stretched outwards and looked like a typical bony dragon's head. The creature moved, startling Mildred, revealing two enormous and powerful forearms and clawed, webbed flipper-like paws with massive and long claws. All around the creature was a bright light that seemed to be a brighter form of turquoise mixed with light and dark forms of greens and blues though there were hints of other colours like purple and red, and they gave the creature a permanent ethereal glow.

The most incredible thing about this creature was that it was covered by water, which accounted for the sound she'd heard, the sound of water trickling and moving around. This creature, this dragon for she was sure it was some kind of dragon, seemed to be half made of water. While the blackness of its body seemed to be a template for its body and its shape, it was the water that moved and shifted all over it like it was trying hard to create a form that suited the dragon best.

Mildred watched in awe as the water shifted around the dragon's head. It was like an invisible sculptor was moulding the water to form long and fierce looking horns at the top of the dragon's head, while the water down its long neck seemed to be trying to decide how many spines or fins to form, how long they should be, how large.

The dragon moved its head closer to the stunned young witch, and Mildred jumped back with a gasp. "There is no need for fear," the dragon said. "I will not harm you. How small you are for such a great witch."

But Mildred wasn't in the mood to be flattered, in fact any other time if she heard anything like that she would laugh at them. She had learnt the hard way when she tried to cast magic she either said the spell wrong or it simply didn't work. But not always. Her powers were still in a trial and error stage, something she could do without. In fact she was tempted when she got back to Cackles to simply take as many books from the library and with her friends help, try to bridge the gulf between her and the other girls who were lucky enough to have some coaching and encouraging in magic from an early age.

Besides after what the dragon had put her through already, nearly being driven mad all day by its incessant summons, Mildred wasn't going to just accept the supposed compliment.

"Why did you bring me here?" Mildred asked, deciding to get straight down to business.

Fortunately the dragon didn't seem to mind her brusque manner. "I need your help, young witch. In return I will pass on knowledge of how better you can harness your powers. I said you would become a great and powerful witch. Let me prove it to you."

The dragon opened its mouth.

Mildred stepped back, suddenly afraid that her gullibility had struck again, and she would be eaten alive and munched on by a hungry dragon. "What are you doing?" she stammered. "Stay away from me!"

But the dragon didn't make any move towards her even as she backed away, her feet and ankles twisting on the beach pebbles. It simply breathed gently on her, a gush of wind that was a combination of steam, boiled water, and magic. Mildred closed her eyes as she was overwhelmed by a vision of herself. She saw herself with Maud and Enid learning spells and saw herself, slightly older, becoming more proficient. But then that wasn't a surprise for her, she knew she could do some spells given time and a chance. Here she was improving her spell knowledge and her repertoire of spells as effortlessly as Ethel Hallow, and achieving much better grades because unlike Ethel, Mildred didn't care about the petty grudge the blonde girl had for her.

Potions had always fascinated her. Unfortunately the reality was different, part of the reason was because she was still finding her feet in the school and she didn't understand many of the concepts. The others were lucky - they had grown up with potion fumes being breathed into their lungs everyday, learning how the ingredients worked.

But her? She had spent her entire life dreaming of becoming a witch, mixing eye of newt, lavender sprigs and daffodil bulbs into a cauldron and making a potion that made her either big or small. As she'd told Felicity as the other girl left the potions lab after that botch up with the growth spell, she was 11 years behind all of them. Mildred might be able to catch up, but she needed time and Miss Hardbroom didn't seem inclined to help her, but Mildred was tempted to ask. She couldn't struggle forever. She didn't want to.

But in the vision the water dragon was showing her, Mildred saw herself gradually improve her potion's skills - Mildred was already okay with some potions, but her knowledge of them was limited and fairly basic, but the vision showed that her grades shot through the roof. Sure she struggled with a few potions here and there, but overall the real Mildred was impressed by the performance of her future self, if that was her future self and not some lie the dragon was using to con her into helping it. She might have a trusting attitude, but not always. Even Mildred had her limitations when it came to trust and forgiveness.

Then the vision changed again only this time she saw herself in a setting similar to the Spelling Bee she and Ethel had taken part in with Miss Pentangle's students Zack and Sapphire. Only this time instead of just one school there were three more involved. In her mind Mildred was amazed by the kind of magic she could do.

She watched in amazement as she turned one of her contestants into a frog and was able to successfully reverse the spell without any ill effects to either herself or the witch she had just transformed - the last time she tried to reverse a transformation spell, it had been botched and Ethel Hallow had to go around human but with the snout of a pig.

Mildred shook her head. "What-what was that?" she asked.

"A vision of you becoming better than you are," the dragon replied simply. "I cannot teach you spells, but I can help you gain more control over them. But only if you help me."

Still not convinced that the vision wasn't a big white lie designed to make her compliant, Mildred looked up at the dragon suspiciously. "What do you want?" she asked without promising the dragon her help, though she wasn't sure what she could do for the dragon since it was a dragon. Surely it could look after itself? Mildred wasn't even sure how the water dragon lived in the loch, but the fact it was the Loch Ness Monster, and had defied the number of attempts to find it over the centuries was impressive. But those were non magical attempts, and Mildred asked herself if a witch or wizard would have better luck. Well, you found it, so the answer must be yes, a voice that eerily sounded like HB right down to the dangerous undertone spoke inside her brain. Mildred blinked. Why did her brain instantly form its own HB? Since when?

"I am being hunted. I need you to help me stop him before he kills me."

Author's note - What do you think about the dragon? I loved writing the description and I hope you enjoyed it very much.

Mildred being able to see Cackles is proof enough to me that she's a witch, the fact she can see the witches flying on broomsticks without people below being terrified always made me think about the way the magical world protects itself. It's sort of like Harry Potter and the way THAT magical world protects itself from the muggle world.

It's how she can sense and feel the magic in the air whilst other people who don't have magical powers that always interested me, and its also a key factor for how the Loch Ness monster is able to hide whilst scientists and treasure seekers hunt it down.

I also wonder whether or not Miss Pentangle was being sincere or not. What do you think? Also, what do you think about the idea there's a rift, unseen so far in the series, between Mildred and Julie?

The next chapter might take some time - I want to concentrate on my other Worst witch story.