Maud felt as though she was floating on air as she headed into the potions lab. She doubted that she'd ever been so happy.
"Isn't he gorgeous?" She breathed contentedly. "He just looks so…"
"He does, doesn't he?" Ruby agreed as she dropped her bag down on a bench and rested her arms on it. She imagined that if she closed her eyes she'd be able to see Haldane's face.
"I wonder what he's doing here." Enid folded her arms and leant up against the wall, refusing to be dragged into the hero worship of their visitor that was beginning to sweep through the school.
"He's putting on a play isn't he?" Mildred replied, missing the point that Enid was trying to make.
"But why come to this school? If he's such a good actor what's he doing coming to this draughty old place?"
"I don't care what brings him here." Ruby smiled. "Just as long as he stays for ages."
"Did you see the way that Miss Drill was looking at him?"
Maud and Ruby turned to glare at Jadu who had followed them into the room.
"I very much doubt that he's interested in Miss Drill." Ruby countered and Maud nodded in agreement.
"Plus we already know that she's still got the hots for that ranger guy, what was his name?"
"Serge." Mildred supplied the name for her friends. "I don't know what you're all getting so excited about."
Maud grabbed hold of her friend's arms and pulled her round to face her.
"Have you actually looked at the man Millie? Have you seen the way that his eyes seem to sparkle when he talks to you?"
"But he hasn't talked to you, not yet, not properly."
"He said hello." Maud replied stuffily.
"But that was directed at all of us."
"Well his eyes still sparkled." Maud was defiant.
"Quiet girls. Get to your places, we have a lot to get through this morning." Miss Hardbroom breezed into the room and the girls let out a collective sigh.
"I'm glad to see that you are all so motivated this morning. Let's see if we can't harness that energy and actually manage to get through an entire class without one of you accidentally blowing something up."
"I really don't know what you see in him." Mildred hissed at Maud as she spotted her friend starting to write his name on the front page of her potions book. "If HB catches you doing that then you'll be for it."
"He's amazing." Maud looked at her friend. "I can't believe that you can't see that."
Mildred shrugged her shoulders as she thought about it.
"He's ok." She conceded. "He's got a nice smile."
"OK!" Maud exclaimed loudly, her disbelief at Mildred causing her to raise her voice.
"Maud Moonshine and, I guess by association, Mildred Hubble. What is so important that you think it's ok to indulge in idle chitter chatter during one of my lessons?"
Maud and Mildred didn't reply, chiefly because they were still trying to work out what it was that Miss Hardbroom had just said.
Miss Hardbroom sighed heavily.
"Can I assume by your silence that you are no longer going to believe that what you have to say is more important than the potion lesson I have to teach?"
"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Mildred replied dutifully. "Sorry Miss Hardbroom."
"Very well."
Maud nudged Mildred as Miss Hardbroom turned her attention to the blackboard.
"You've misjudged him." She whispered. "You wait until you talk to him, then you'll understand."
"Can we talk about this later?" Mildred glanced nervously in Miss Hardbroom's direction.
"Mildred Hubble, Maud Moonshine I have been more than patient with the pair of you, however you seem determined to spend at least one of the evenings this week in detention. If that is to be your singular desire for this week then so be it. Never let it be said that I stood in the way of your hopes and aspirations. Firstly though you can go straight to see Miss Cackle and explain to her what was so important that you had to discuss it rather than listen to what I had to tell you." Miss Hardbroom snapped at them.
"What the…?" Mildred looked in bewilderment at Maud. The pair of them were sitting on the chairs outside Miss Cackle's office.
"Wow!" Maud was at a loss for words.
"I didn't know she could do that." Mildred confessed.
"Me neither!"
Miss Cackle placed her empty teacup back in its saucer as she heard surprised exclamations from the corridor outside her office. In her experience surprised exclamations had a number of causes but when the exclamations were swiftly followed by the sound of wooden chair legs scraping upon the stone, they usually only had one very specific cause. She brushed the cake crumbs from her lap and rose to her feet. She took a quick look at the objects that were piled up on her desk and made sure that there was nothing there that shouldn't be. It was a routine she had forced herself to adopt in recent months after the incident with the catnip toy. She'd been there in the middle of a lecture to three of the first years; telling them that their cats were working animals and not simply pets and there on the desk had been her cat's favourite toy. The matter might simply have been ignored had her cat not chosen that moment to launch itself onto the desk and play with the offending toy as though it was still an eight-week-old kitten.
Satisfied that nothing was out of place, Amelia crossed her office and opened the door. She felt her heart sink as she saw Mildred Hubble and Maud Moonshine sitting out in the corridor. She was never particularly pleased to see anyone perched on the hard wooden chairs that sat in the corridor but she was beginning to tire of seeing the same two faces week in week out.
"What was it this time girls?" She asked with a heavy sigh.
"Miss Hardbroom caught us talking in class." Mildred piped up.
"And who gave Miss Hardbroom the opportunity to catch you talking?"
"Miss?"
"You make it sound as though things would have been fine if only Miss Hardbroom had been paying less attention. The truth of the matter is that the pair of you should not have been talking in the first place." Amelia looked at the downcast faces and sighed again; the girls never made it easy for her to punish them. She indicated that the two of them should follow her into the office.
"What happened?" She asked them as she settled behind her desk.
Maud looked down at her boots and wished that she were a better liar.
"I was talking to Mildred about Mr Harrington." She confessed.
"Aahh." Miss Cackle looked at them over the top of her glasses. "I take it that you've already met our visitors?"
Maud and Mildred nodded.
"Miss Drill asked us to help them settle in." Mildred explained.
"I see."
"And it's so rare to have anyone new here that we really couldn't help but talk about them." Mildred continued with her explanation.
"It was actually me that was doing most of the talking." Maud confessed, trying to keep her friend out of any more trouble.
"I've always been led to believe that it takes two people to have a conversation." Miss Cackle pointed out. "But I appreciate your loyalty to your friend Maud." She sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers thoughtfully.
Mildred exchanged a glance with Maud and the pair of them wondered what punishment their headmistress was going to give out.
"Would it help if we were to say that we were sorry?" Mildred offered.
Miss Cackle raised an eyebrow.
"Just how many times have you had cause to say sorry to Miss Hardbroom this school year Mildred?"
Mildred opened her mouth to reply and then realised that she had no idea of the actual number of times she had had to apologise to her form tutor.
"We really are sorry." Maud piped up.
Miss Cackle looked from the face of one girl to the other and found it hard to summon up the necessary strength to punish them. She leant forward in her chair and beckoned them forward.
"If I'm honest with you." She whispered to the two girls. "I'm rather excited by the arrival of the actors myself." She sat back in her chair. "But we can't have the pair of you disrupting Miss Hardbroom's lessons. There is a time and a place for excited chattering and I'm sure you are both aware that lessons are not the time and Miss Hardbroom's potions lab is most certainly not the place."
"No miss." The two girls replied dutifully, unsure as yet whether they were really in trouble or not.
"Can you assure me that you are not going to deliberately disrupt your potions lessons with chatter about Haldane Harrington and his players again?"
"Yes Miss." Mildred and Maud chorused eagerly.
"Very well. I want you to return to your rooms until the end of the potions lesson. You will miss lunch but will return to lessons as normal after that. At the end of the day you can then go and see Miss Hardbroom and collect from her detail of the work that you missed. You can make it up in your own time." Miss Cackle watched as the two girls glanced at each other. "Don't look so surprised girls. If you would prefer me to give you lines or detention I'm sure that I could manage that."
"No miss. Thank you miss." Mildred replied quickly.
Miss Cackle watched as the two girls made their excuses and left her office. It appeared that Miss Hardbroom had a point after all regarding the distracting nature of their guests. Lunchtime in the staff room wasn't something that she was particularly looking forward to.
Mildred shut the door behind her and turned to Maud in shock.
"I can't believe that that's all she gave us."
Maud grabbed hold of her friend's arm and pulled her away.
"Sshhh, she'll hear you." When she was satisfied that they were a safe distance away she slowed to a stop. "I was expecting detention at the very least." She confessed.
Mildred shook her head.
"It's weird. I wonder what HB's going to say when she finds out that we're not in detention for the rest of the week?"
Maud pulled a face.
"Maybe collecting work from HB isn't as small a punishment as we first thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you want to be the one that tells HB that we haven't been given any other punishment?"
Mildred swallowed nervously.
"Perhaps we could toss a coin to decide who tells her."
Maud smiled and turned on her heel.
"We'll tell her together." She decided.
Mildred quickly fell in step with her friend. When Maud walked straight past the bottom of the staircase, Mildred called after her.
"We're supposed to go back to our rooms."
Maud turned and pulled a face.
"But this is the perfect opportunity to try and see Haldane again."
"It was Haldane that got us into trouble in the first place." Mildred reminded her friend.
"It'll only take five minutes." Maud pleaded but Mildred refused to budge.
"If we get caught then you can forget ever seeing Haldane again." She warned. "I'm sure we'd be banned from seeing the play with all the others." She looked at Maud's downcast face. "I may not share your views about Haldane but I want to see the play as much as you do. If we get caught then it will only give Miss Hardbroom an excuse to call the whole thing off."
Maud reluctantly had to agree that her friend had a point and she dutifully followed her upstairs.
As the pair disappeared onto the upstairs landing Haldane stepped out of the shadows. He smiled as he realised the impact that his arrival had already caused. If the pupils in the school were all this pleased to see him then things could only get better.
He ducked back into the shadows as he heard the sound of someone else approaching. The feet made less sound on the stone flags and he barely had time to get out of sight before the figure swept passed him. He caught a glimpse of blond hair as they passed him and he realised that it must be the sports teacher Imogen Drill. He kicked himself for hiding away. Of all the people he'd met in the school so far, Imogen had been the one that he'd really warmed to. She laughed at the jokes he'd made and really seemed to take an interest in the things he had to tell her. If he was going to try and fit in during his stay then he'd need her to help smooth the way with those members of staff who seemed less than pleased to see him.
He thought about following her but decided against it. He didn't want it to look as though he was stalking her; plus there was the small matter of getting all his equipment sorted. Plays did not put themselves on he reminded himself. He reluctantly turned around and headed back towards his quarters.
Imogen slowed her pace as she neared the staff room. She could hear raised voices from within the room. She didn't need anyone to tell her who was talking or what it was they were talking about. She swore that Constance Hardbroom had a voice that could be heard through the loudest of storms. It was certainly distinctive and it was most certainly the clearest of the voices that she could presently hear.
"They've only been here for a day and they are already causing unacceptable disruption."
Imogen sighed as she opened the staff room door and entered the room. She had known that it was never going to be easy having the actors in the school but she had hoped that a few days would have past before Constance started her complaints.
"I think Mr Harrington is very dashing." Davina Bat fanned a hand in front of her face. "I have to say that he set my heart a flutter when I saw him."
"Did you really have to say it?" Constance questioned with a tired voice. "I for one could certainly have made it through my day without hearing that."
"I think the actors will bring some much needed life to the school." Miss Cackle decided that it was best to ignore the spat between her two colleagues and just continue on the original argument that Constance had voiced.
"As far as I am concerned there is already plenty of 'life' in this school as it is." Constance remarked huffily. "These actors are nothing more than an unnecessary distraction to our girls."
"Nonsense." Imogen countered, launching herself into the argument. "This place needs a spark of life in it and I believe that Haldane and his team are just the people to provide that spark."
"I wouldn't call having the place overrun with a motley collection of unwashed so called actors 'sparking'!"
"I can well imagine what you'd call it." Imogen remarked sharply. "Well you needn't worry about it, Haldane's colleagues will be leaving us for a few days. They have another engagement so we'll only have one visitor to worry about and I'm sure we can all cope with that."
"Where exactly are Mr Harrington's people going?" Miss Cackle enquired. "I rather thought that they would be helping to entertain the girls."
Imogen shrugged her shoulders.
"Haldane said that he'd be happy to look after all the girls until they return. I rather think he likes the idea of holding court."
Constance pursed her lips.
"Why doesn't that surprise me? It must flatter his already inflated ego to have a school full of girls hanging onto his every word."
"I rather think you're exaggerating Constance." Amelia chided her deputy.
"I most certainly am not." She snapped, holding up one of the books that she was marking. "Maud Moonshine and Ruby Cherrytree have already seen fit to scrawl his name across the covers of their exercise books."
"Ahh." Miss Cackle's face took on a worried expression. "I was rather hoping that he wouldn't have that kind of effect on the girls."
Imogen shook her head in disbelief.
"It's natural that they should react this way. Any newcomer to the school was bound to attract their attention."
"By any newcomer you mean any male newcomer." Constance pointed out. "I didn't notice any of the girls scrawling Millicent Mudlark's name on their exercise books after her talk on the consequences of turning oneself into an element for a prolonged period of time."
"I take it you haven't seen Beverly Blackthorn's homework book?" Miss Bat muttered. Constance glared at her and Davina shrank back in her seat, biting nervously on her nails.
"Haldane Harrington is a dangerous presence in our midst." Constance declared. "He will cause us nothing but trouble."
Imogen clasped both hands to her head as she tried to master her frustration with her colleague.
"Just because he's a man Constance, it does not necessarily follow that the girls will fall under his spell and he'll lead them, pied piper like from the school grounds." She squared up to Constance. "He's going to bring an element of fun into the girls' life and I for one think that that's exactly what they need."
"Fun." The word was spat out. "You think that what our girls need is fun?"
Imogen placed her hands on her hips.
"That's exactly what I think they need. They're children after all, they're supposed to have fun."
Miss Hardbroom bristled at the comment and Miss Bat, wise after many years of sharing a staff room with Constance Hardbroom, immediately sought refuge in the cupboard. Imogen watched her go and, after glancing at the expression on Constance's face, realised that Miss Bat had probably made the wisest move.
"Firstly Miss Drill" Constance began, her tone so brittle it cut through the atmosphere in the room. "Our girls are not normal children they are witches and secondly, and more importantly as far as I am concerned, they are not here to have fun. They are here to learn; to matriculate with dedication and to graduate from here as well rounded and, I hope at the very least, competent witches. Fun does not come into it."
Miss Drill opened her mouth to protest but was cut off before she could begin.
"And where exactly do you think that 'fun' will get our students in the real world Miss Drill? When was the last time you heard one of the captains of industry putting their successful achievements in the workplace down to having 'fun' at school?"
"There is more to life than work Constance." She tried to protest and realised as soon as the words left her mouth that she was wasting her breath. If there was one person in the world who seemed to live and breathe nothing but her job it was Constance Hardbroom. Imogen's brain rattled through her time at Cackles and tried to think when she had seen Constance voluntarily doing something that wasn't directly connected with her job.
Surely the woman had a hobby of some kind: an interest that wasn't directly connected to her job? She shook her head slowly as she realised that this just wasn't so.
"You have something else to say perhaps Miss Drill?"
Imogen was brought quickly back to the here and now. She blinked and immediately averted her eyes from Constance's piercing glare.
"Sorry." She apologised, "I was just thinking about something." She watched as Constance pulled a face and turned to complain further to Miss Cackle.
"Well I think its wonderful having the actors here." Came a very muffled comment from within the stationary cupboard.
"Thank you Miss Bat." Imogen turned to watch the heated conversation that was now taking place between Constance and Miss Cackle. Imogen was reasonably sure that Miss Cackle would prevail, as she would never want to have to face up to the actors and ask them to leave.
"I think they bring a touch of…mumph muummph." The comment from the stationary cupboard became less clear as Davina Bat rediscovered the bowl of cauldron stew that she had been eating the previous day.
"I think they do too." Imogen decided that it was probably safest to agree with Miss Bat at this point as asking her to repeat herself would only lead to an even more incomprehensible comment.
"They are staying Constance and that is final."
"Ooohh." Constance let out an exclamation of annoyance and turned smartly away from Miss Cackle. She glared at Imogen and shot an angry glance at the stationary cupboard before storming from the room.
"Constance!" Miss Cackle sighed heavily and followed her deputy from the room, wanting to at least attempt to smooth the waters.
Imogen watched them go and stared around at the now empty staff room. She was beginning to wonder whether it was ever going to be possible to have a peaceful lunchtime. She cast her mind back over her time at Cackles and tried to recall a time where lunchtime hadn't involved an argument or a confrontation. She sighed heavily and sat down at the empty table. She peeled the lid from her yoghurt and pushed her spoon into the contents, watching as the pale pink yoghurt swirled round the pot.
There was no way that Miss Cackle was going to calm Constance down before the end of lunch and she knew from past experience that they'd be lucky to see Miss Bat before the end of the day. She raised a spoonful of yoghurt to the empty room. "Cheers everybody!"