I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave feedback.

Recently, I've been thinking about something the alternate Maud Spellbody said about Mildred, that she didn't have friends. I've got an idea about it - instead of being an all-around good kid, Mildred has run with a few gangs and learnt the rudiments of her powers. When she encounters Maud, she wants to turn over a new leaf, but things don't go her way.

What do you think?


Mildred, the Pentangles' girl.

During the day where she was given the opportunity to learn more about the school, the grounds, and meeting the teachers though for now, she had no idea which one would be her tutor, Mildred was fitted for her uniform. It was something she definitely enjoyed - while her Cackles uniform had definitely fitted her, there had been times where her boots had been uncomfortable, and some of her shirts had been either too small or too tight on her small, wiry frame.

But at Pentangles, the students were given uniforms that were tailor fitted, although instead of witches and wizards rushing about her with measuring tapes there was instead a very nifty spell that was cast over her and scanned her body. Mildred had laughed a little bit since the spell was ticklish, and a very amused Miss Miller, the deputy headmistress, had told her that the spell was delicate and it might be ticklish but she would need to restrain herself.

The witch responsible for the uniforms cancelled the spell after ten minutes of constant scanning and looked from between Mildred and Miss Miller with a smile. "I think I've got everything," she announced. "You'll receive your uniform tonight. If you have any problems then please come straight to me."

Mildred smiled at her. "Thank you," she replied, grateful; she had had problems with some pieces of her uniform, but she had been told witches don't complain about things like that, so she had been forced to grin and bear it. Over time she had gotten used to the uniform, but she had often wondered if Hardbroom had made sure her uniform was as uncomfortable as it could be in order for her to leave.

Mildred had gotten used to the uniform though that thought had given her the strength to add it to her list of things to be defiant about; she was not going to let some drab, ugly uniform hold her back.

She hadn't expected the people of Pentangles to be so thoughtful enough to go the extra mile when it came to their uniforms but clearly, the school did care.

Miss Miller escorted Mildred to her office. Mildred looked around the office curiously. She had been in Miss Hardbroom's office plenty of times, and since she was the only other witch deputy headmistress she knew about, she had imagined or at least pictured Miss Miller's office to resemble the potions mistress's private domain. But Miss Miller's office was a red in colour, brighter than the dark room made more sinister and grim by the jars of grisly things that were either potion ingredients waiting to be used or simply potions on display.

Miss Miller's office was a little more like Miss Cackles; there were books on shelves, but there were photographs on the walls and posters, which were an odd mix between photographs of witches and wizards who were friends with Miss Miller, and posters of movies and of pop groups. Small knickknacks were scattered around the office. Mildred had the impression Miss Miller was a serious woman but she had a fun, more relaxed nature than Miss Hardbroom.

"Please, sit down Mildred," Miss Miller gestured to a chair and Mildred instantly took her seat.

Miss Miller watched her from behind the desk for a moment. "I hope you're happier at Pentangles than you were at Cackles, Mildred, but I want to know, from your own words, what your thoughts were prior to the announcement of the Spelling Bee."

Mildred was a little surprised by the question. "What do you mean, Miss?"

"I mean, after you were accused of a theft you didn't commit, how did you feel about Cackles?"

Mildred stiffened and her eyes became hooded at the thought of that trial, and her realisation during that period. It was still painful for her to deal with, but she had gotten better with time. "I was accused of stealing a star globe created by Merlin himself. The teachers woke me up - I was already tired because I'd finished one of my detentions, but when I saw the teachers it was like looking at different people. The next day the rest of the school had found out about the globe. The teachers isolated me from the rest of the classes and they used the time to taunt me, and they encouraged the others to pick on me. I was cursed in the corridors, spat at. In that time Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom arranged a trial that was less like a court of justice and more of a show trial. I realised I didn't have a place there," she began and she kept going to make the woman understand, "they went on about everything that had happened at the school; the mistakes I made, the failed flying tests, being turned into a frog, turning another girl into a pig. All of the potion mishaps were retold with delight from Miss Hardbroom, who looked like she was enjoying every minute of it.

"As I sat there, listening to every single thing that I'd done or been involved with, I realised I didn't have a place at Cackles. When the Star globe was found, I walked out of the hall, furious with Miss Cackles plea for forgiveness. When I got back to my room, I found it completely trashed, and my cat was injured by a curse by someone I thought was better than that."

Miss Miller groaned, disgusted by what the Cackles witches had done to Mildred's cat. "Go on."

"I became desperate to leave," Mildred confessed. "I was getting myself into trouble by accident nearly all the time, so I figured I'd be expelled at some point, before the trial I had gotten lucky, something had happened to keep me from being expelled. After the trial, I had stopped caring; everyone realised that they'd gone too far with the trial, and Miss Cackle wanted to make up for what she and the others had done. I didn't care. I just wanted out, and I decided that if I couldn't be expelled then I would simply wait until the end of year exams."

Miss Miller nodded. "You planned to fail them?" she said, understanding in her tone. She herself had become so frustrated at her own school, but her situation was remarkably different from Mildred's.

"Yes," Mildred replied. "When I was sitting in the trial, I took comfort from the idea I'd soon be leaving Cackles, anything to get away from the accusations. There was also something patronising about their apologies, I can't explain it."

"Don't worry about it," Miss Miller assured her. "Go on. I want to know how the Spelling Bee went for you."

"The Spelling Bee was announced the next day. In the early hours of the morning, I broke the rules by giving my mother a mirror call and telling what had happened; I wasn't going to hide it from her. My mother was supportive of me becoming a witch, but she wasn't too impressed with the attitudes she'd received at Cackles."

To Mildred's surprise, Miss Miller nodded and rolled her eyes. "Miss?"

Miss Miller chuckled. "My parents weren't very happy with the attitudes of the teachers of my first magical school either," she related the story as the memories of those first days as a witch entered her mind. "They weren't happy with me being a witch either," she added before shaking her head out of those memories.

Eyes wide, Mildred gaped at the deputy headmistress. "You're….. not from a witch family?" she whispered, though truthfully it made sense; Miss Miller had quite a few items in her office that were from the non-magical world, but she hadn't paid much attention to any of them until now. But Miss Miller's last name didn't sound very witchy.

Miss Miller nodded. "Like you, and some of the students in this school, I had to deal with prejudice myself. It took me a while to adjust; no-one wanted to be my friend, I was used as a convenient scapegoat when something went wrong, and believe me they did, and I was tempted to leave once or twice."

"So was I," Mildred interrupted excitedly, pleased she'd found some common ground before realising her faux pas. "I-I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to interrupt."

Her mind went back to what Miss Miller said about no-one wanting to be her friend, and it made her wonder why Maud and Enid had stuck with her for so long. She was still a bit sceptical about them even if they'd formed a kind of truce before she'd left.

"It's okay, just don't make a habit of it. Where was I?" Karen asked herself before smiling. "Oh yeah. I found out that witches must help themselves. With that in mind, I observed the other girls in my class when they cast spells, and I discovered each one of them used a different hand movement to cast them. It took me a while to realise that they were thinking what they wanted before they told their magic what to do, and I took it from there, with some help."

"Were you bad at potions?" Mildred couldn't help but ask.

Her question made Miss Miller smirk. "I was awful at potions, but I did my best. One of the beauties of school is you learn from your mistakes, and my potions teacher was very patient with me. She was the one who helped give me advice about magic, but while I can brew some potions I am still terrible at some of them."

Mildred smiled at them.

"But I was lucky enough not to be included in the Spelling Bee. What happened?"

Mildred's smile faded somewhat. She still felt contempt towards Cackle and Hardbroom for pushing her into those revision lessons with Ethel Hallow only to make sure she didn't take part. She let some of that old bitterness seep into her tone. "Miss Hardbroom pushed me and another girl, Ethel Hallow, into revision lessons. Ethel comes from a witch family, something she never hesitated to point out at me whenever we interacted. Ethel bullied me even before the contest but during the sessions, she was worse. She was contemptuous and she didn't hesitate to threaten me if Cackles lost the contest. It never occurred to her I had stopped caring about the school."

Mildred took a deep breath to help steady her nerves. "When Miss Pentangle arrived with Zac and Sapphire, the sessions became more gruelling and Miss Hardbroom didn't tolerate any mistakes, which unfortunately for me happens a lot, and because of her looming over me like a giant bat," she blushed at Miss Miller's amused look, "sorry, and making me nervous all the time, I caused accidents. At one point, the potion exploded."

"That happened to me once or twice," Karen said, "it happens to even the most experienced witch. Everyone makes mistakes. One of the problems with the magical world is that so many people do not like to be reminded they are merely human. Pippa told me you shared a potions tutorial with Zac and Sapphire," Karen grinned. "She said you enjoyed it."

"I did, yeah," Mildred smiled back. "She was very supportive, encouraging. She was patient, something I have really missed." The smile faded and Mildred looked upset slightly.

The girl's clear distress that her old school's teachers had caused her stress angered Karen because it brought back memories of how she had been treated by some of the teachers of her own school, but she forced them down. "Pippa is a brilliant teacher, Mildred," she replied, "she knows that while subjects like potions are critical for a magical education, she believes that a calm demeanour works better than simply hovering above like a giant bat," Karen held back the urge to laugh along with Mildred when the girl bit back a clear giggle, "and causing the students stress. She also believes that showing the girls, if they are bad or new to potions, how the ingredients work is better than shouting at them in case something goes wrong, but let me tell you that Pippa is a very experienced teacher, and she is not afraid to put down students for not trying their best."

Mildred blinked a little at the blunt statement but she nodded, figuring it made some sense. Miss Pentangle was a teacher, she was also a dedicated headmistress, and from what she had learnt about the woman from her prospectus she had been teaching for years so she would know not to be a pushover. She nodded slowly in agreement with Miss Miller's statement.

"What else happened with the Spelling Bee, Mildred?"

Mildred had been annoyed with Hecate Hardbroom leaving the plan to keep her out of the competition at all costs to the last minute, and she didn't hesitate to let Miss Miller be unaware of it. "I was pushed from one revision session to the next until I had nothing but potions and spells on my mind, and all that time they had planned to keep me out of the contest. Miss Hardbroom waited until Ethel and I were just about to head into the hall, and told us that I wouldn't be taking part but Ethel would. I'd expected it, but I didn't like having my time wasted."

Karen snorted, wondering what mental process had possessed the teachers at Cackles into doing that, but she wasn't surprised. "You must have been bored out of your mind," she observed.

"I was," Mildred's face and tone bordered on long-suffering. "I would have gladly taken a drawing pad, if the one I had taken into Cackles had survived, and doodled until the sun exploded if it meant I could have something more meaningful to do other than be the guinea pig for Ethel's spells."

Karen wasn't sure how to feel about Mildred's graphic description of how bored she'd been but if she were honest, but she could sympathise with her. Another thing that caught her attention was that little comment about the drawing pad, but she didn't ask for details. Pippa had told her about the state of Mildred's bedroom. "And also having to nudge Ethel out of her crush on Zac was more entertaining," Mildred added.

Karen chuckled. "I imagine quite a few girls had crushes on Zac," she commented, wondering if Mildred herself had been attracted to the boy, but saw that she didn't have those feelings towards Zac.

Mildred nodded. "They did," she said, hoping Miss Miller didn't ask for more details.

Fortunately, Karen had something else to discuss with Mildred. "How did you feel about the scholarship offer?" she asked.

"I was excited by the idea and the lessons on offer at the school," Mildred said but she then began to gush, "some of the subjects sounded amazing, like technomancy and runes, and enchanting sounded truly cool."

Karen laughed. "It is," she agreed before her voice became more pointed. "Tell me something, were you wondering why Pippa offered it to you, and did you think, after the trial, that you felt nothing would change if you transferred to Pentangles?"

Mildred's happy posture changed and she became more businesslike. "Yeah, I did," she said, deciding to be completely truthful. "I had spent months trying to be seen as a good witch. I really had tried, only for everyone to tear that hope down. I had hoped that by being persistent and trying really hard at the studies, they would respect me, but that was thrown back in my face. I was worried that if Miss Pentangle took me to Pentangles, the same thing would happen. I would still be the worst witch."

Karen tutted angrily at the name. It brought back memories of her own experiences. "That won't happen, not while you are in my tutor group," she said.

Mildred started in surprise. "Excuse me? I'm in your tutor group, but no one told me-,"

Karen held up a hand as she interrupted the girl to forestall any more discussion on the topic. "Pippa and I have been in a meeting with a few of the other teachers. Some of them are from magical families, and while they teach magical children some of them have quite a few non-magical students in their own groups, but I told Pippa I would be happy to step in; I was like you a long time ago, so I was a perfect choice."

Karen had no intention of telling the girl she had spoken to Pippa before the meeting. She had more students from non-magical families in her tutor group than any other teacher, though all the other teachers had 3 or just 2 students in their groups, and she stood up for them because she knew that outside Pentangles they would have no voice.

"I will be speaking with the other teachers, consulting with them during your first few weeks here," she went on, "and I'll be speaking to you in informal meetings like this one, so if you have problems in any of the classes you'll be attending we can talk about them. I will listen to you, and I can tell you now I am not Hecate Hardbroom," she went on. "I'll listen to you."

Mildred blinked at her in confusion. "You've met her?"

"No, but I've heard about her. According to the potions teachers in this school, she is a powerful witch and a brilliant potions mistress, but she needs to work a bit on her teaching methods. They're archaic in their eyes, and they say she needs to work a little bit on her habits of praising the best student when there are other students who are just as capable. While witches according to that ridiculous code aren't meant to complain, they don't need to have a scary teacher looming over them."

"You're the first person I've met in either Pentangles or Cackles who has called the code ridiculous," Mildred observed, putting what Miss Miller had just said in mind.

Karen leaned back in her chair. "I studied the code thoroughly after I discovered witches help themselves, but I was interested in learning more about the culture in case there were other loopholes. I was so tired of the way the other students and the teachers were acting, so I read it to pass the time. But some parts of it looked like they'd been drafted centuries ago and was simply left untouched for centuries. I didn't like the code, but I knew it would help me in this world. But yeah, most of it is absurd."

Mildred felt a little bit stupid. She should have studied the code when she'd had the opportunity, but some of it was so hard to imagine and some of the concepts were a bit questionable because she couldn't imagine a witch having anything to do with a dragon. "I've never really thought much about it," she confessed.

Karen nodded, but her expression was serious. "I would seriously sit down and study it if I were you," she advised gently but Mildred could hear the command in the woman's tone. "In fact, I insist on it. I do that to all the students from outside the magical world. I got into a lot of trouble at school because of my ignorance because no one was willing to tell me anything relevant, but when I studied the code it gave me a leg to stand on; they believed I was so thick I wouldn't understand it, but I proved a lot of them wrong. I enjoyed every minute of it. You can do the same."

"So Pentangles won't be dissimilar from Cackles?" The question was out of Mildred's mouth before she could check it, but Karen closed her eyes and wished she had been a been a bit more tactful and chosen different words. "No, the two schools are totally different, and since there are other students from non-magical families here, bullying against both parties is strictly forbidden. Unlike Cackles, Pentangles offers students courses that delve into magical culture and history; for the magically raised students, its a walk in the park, but it helps to integrate the students from non-magical families."

"Imagine that you and your mother emigrated to another country like Japan, and you were shunned because you had problems with the language, or with understanding the nuances of the culture. In a way, the same thing happened at Cackles. But here we have courses and debates to help students adapt. That's not all, non-magical students are allowed to play games like tennis or football here, and are encouraged to show them to the other students who are interested."

Mildred had not known that, and she was instantly intrigued. "How come Miss Pentangle allowed that?" she asked.

Karen chuckled. "A few of the students were listless in the first years the school opened," she explained, "some of them talked about the games outside of the magical world. Pippa was intrigued and she got them what they needed and then it all kicked off from there."

Mildred smiled. The more she learnt about Pentangles, the more she loved the place. For the next hour, Karen and Mildred talked about the lessons she would be taking before the older woman escorted her to the room where the tutor group would meet before taking her to Mildred's new room. The moment she saw the bedroom, Mildred's eyes popped open. She had been so used to the dark and dreary bedroom she'd had at Cackles, a room that had been so cold she had needed to dump her school clothes on her bed before spreading her cloak on top to just keeping her warm.

But as she compared this room to that old miserable room that had been hurriedly prepared for her, Mildred felt that the teachers at Pentangles had really given her a 5-star hotel suite than a dungeon.

The bed was more solid looking than the rickety, uncomfortable thing she had slept in at Cackles. On top of it was a chocolate placed there in welcome, something that made her grin even as she took the rest of the room in. The desk was better quality than the one in Cackles, and there was a mirror there that she could tell was used for calling friends or family. The desk was a long unit with drawers on both ends with two other chairs. Mildred was curious about them.

"Sometimes the teachers will place you and other students in groups to work on projects, and it is a good idea to work in one room for a while in comfort, but if not there's always the couch," Karen explained.

The couch itself was against a wall. It was a simple but comfortable looking white couch that was clearly meant to be a place to relax on to read or unwind on. Mildred fell in love with the en-suite bathroom. "Oh thank you," she whispered, hoping the teacher hadn't heard. "No more queues for the shower or toilet, and thank god for a bath!"

But Karen did hear and she had to suppress a grin as she saw Mildred open the wardrobe, and saw the girl's eyes widen at the sets of uniform already in there. "What do I do with my old Cackles uniform?" Mildred asked when she realised she still had the drab uniform still on.

"It's up to you," Karen said as she approached the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "You can keep it in the wardrobe or you can throw it out. It's your choice. No one is going to yell at you for that."

Mildred's hands twisted the red sash around her waist. "Okay."


A fortnight later, the staff at Pentangles were having a meeting. It was the evening so the students should've been in the common rooms or in their bedrooms, either studying or speaking to their parents and friends, but the staff room had monitoring spells that alerted the teachers to any movement in the corridors before they left for bed themselves. The staff at Pentangles met virtually every day to speak about matters of urgency, such as discipline, potion mishaps, spells and supply shortages, but for the last fortnight, the teachers had been prepared for this because Pippa had told them she had wanted to speak about their latest student after giving her time. Pippa had arranged for the meeting at night because she had wanted all of her teachers in on the meeting for this.

The staffroom at Pentangles was a long room with couches and soft armchairs arranged into a circle with a raised coffee table made from polished walnut in the centre. Pippa sat in one of the armchairs, Karen sitting on her left and she looked around the ring of teachers who were her friends.

"Okay," she said, "I want to know if there have been any problems in the last fortnight that we need to hear and discuss."

The teachers looked at one another before Gloria Moonlight, the transfiguration teacher, asked in an exasperated voice. "Pippa, why is Beatrice Black still here? I mean, she's so disruptive. She's causing problems for the other students again."

There was a collective groan. Out of the corner of her eye, Pippa could see Karen rolling her eyes in annoyance and she felt her own head start to ache. Beatrice Black was one of the few students Pippa had in her school that she actually took the time to dislike. The daughter of a rich family, maybe not as well off as families like the Hawthorns, the Hallows, or the Nightshades, but influential enough to ensure his daughter had been put into witch schools over a significant period, but Beatrice was currently on her last chance to buckle down and begin to act like a proper witch willing to learn the intricacies of magic.

Pippa had spoken to Beatrice's father and had discovered he had left the raising of his child to her mother, who had spoilt her and had neglected the basic early education every witch learnt in their world. Oh, Beatrice knew how to cast spells and brew potions, but she lacked the skills other students possessed to brew more complicated potions, meaning Beatrice had never been encouraged or shown how to brew potions which were more complex. That worried and frustrated Pippa, and she had contacted other headmistresses unlucky enough to have the spoilt girl in their schools and learnt they were just as frustrated and annoyed by Mrs Black's inability to teach the girl how to perform magic. But the damage was done - Beatrice seemed to think that because her mother had allowed it, the teachers would let her do anything she liked. She hadn't realised yet that was not going to happen.

There was always a witch or wizard nearly every year who was shunted from school to school because they were disruptive, and Beatrice was certainly in that category. Unlike Enid Nightshade who had been moved from seventeen schools until she found herself settled at Cackles, Beatrice didn't seem to want to be settled. Pippa had accepted the girl into her school simply because Pentangles had a great track record with students, but she was now regretting allowing herself to be talked into accepting her.

Like most witches her age, Beatrice had a very overinflated opinion about her abilities - that was normal, but she caused disruptions in every lesson she attended, which resulted in nearly every teacher she had in the school simply refusing to teach her. Pippa knew the girl was intelligent and she knew about magic, but she disrupted every lesson. Beatrice was a bully as well, and she had had her mirror confiscated so many times Pippa had ordered it to be kept out of her bedroom permanently until the girl either grew up and changed her ways or she did something to get her kicked out.

Neither Pippa or the teachers could work out why the girl was a bully since she was utterly terrible at magic. In a sense, Beatrice was the worst witch, but unlike Mildred Hubble, she deserved the title because she wasn't just awful when it came to magic but her attitude was infinitely worse. At least with Mildred, you knew she wanted to improve her knowledge and her skills.

Armed with a boastful attitude and a bullying nature, Beatrice was probably the most disliked student in the school. Pippa had lost count of the number of times she'd brought in the girl's father because her mother was out getting a manicure, or some insignificant thing like that, to try to get him to curb his daughter's activities or else she could cause a disaster that would result in her expulsion.

Mr Black was at his wits end himself, and Pippa could tell he was as frustrated like everybody else for his daughter's behaviour, and he had even confided in her he regretted letting his wife stupidly spoil the girl, but Beatrice was their only child since birth complications had unfortunately claimed the lives of three of their children, so there was an excuse for her being spoilt, but they should have made sure she became a witch regardless.

It wasn't just Beatrice that was hurt, all the other students in her year were suffering as a consequence. As far as Pippa Pentangle was concerned, all Mrs Black had done was ruin the life of her daughter because in the future Beatrice may indeed find herself in need of her magical education, and it would be lacking because she had never bothered to learn magic beyond its most basic lessons. It was true witches learnt magic on their own, but it had to be prompted, encouraged and expanded upon with the help of their parents, but Beatrice had never wanted to learn after her mother smothered her.

To make matters worse Beatrice's actions were also causing problems for other students. She was a terror and was too immature to be put into any classes. She caused problems in lessons which were supposed to be taken seriously, like potions, and there had been incidents where the girl had thrown ingredients across the lab where they'd blow up a cauldron and cause injuries.

Beatrice also exploded into terrible tantrums and many of the other students had taken to avoiding her, and while Pippa encouraged the students to get along and respect each other because they would need social skills in order to get a proper job after they'd completed school and college, she couldn't blame them either for wanting Beatrice to stay away. She herself could barely stand the obnoxious girl.

For almost two months now, Pippa and her teachers had been keeping an eye on the girl after it became apparent she had no interest in her lessons, and the tutors moved her from one group to another because she bullied the girls and boys in the various tutor groups until Pippa had become so fed up with the girl's attitude she had had her moved to a simple room where she would spend her time on her own before she had started looking forwards to Beatrice finally giving them an excuse to kick her out.

"What's she done now?" Pippa asked Gloria, knowing the transfiguration teacher didn't tolerate anyone messing about in her class given the nature of transfiguration.

Gloria sighed. "She talked loudly to five other students, boasting she could perform the spells in her sleep. I challenged her to do just that, but she couldn't perform the spells. Instead the glass she was supposed to transfigure exploded, if I didn't have shields built into the room's security spells, the other students could've been sliced to pieces."

Karen looked interested, and even a touch eager. "Please say you've got proof," she begged and a few of the other teachers also leaned forwards eagerly.

Gloria grinned. "What do you take me for?"

Pippa shook her head. "It may not be enough to kick her out," she cautioned. "Don't forget that several other students have caused problems in your class before."

"Not like this, Pippa," Gloria replied, hoping the pink-clad headmistress wasn't going to give the girl a second chance. "I have proof of what she did."

Pippa smiled. "Then let's hope it works in getting Beatrice kicked out," she said before she grimaced, "but her father could beg the council to keep the girl here for a little bit longer. Don't forget many of them aren't one hundred percent sure about the curriculum taught here. I can argue - Mr Black's family connections are partly the reason she was given the chance to come here, and they might force her to stay here longer unless she does something drastic."

Pippa suddenly sighed in irritation. "I have had meetings with the council and with Mr Black, begging me to keep the girl here, but I've told them and him unless she changes her ways then Beatrice will no longer have a place at this school."

Karen nodded. "We know," she said. "But we need to do something in order to stop her disrupting classes. The longer she is here, the more damage it will cause to the others."

Pippa sighed again as she thought about it. "What if we isolate her from the rest of the school?" she suggested. "It is not something I'd want to do to any student, but we can't go on like this."

"That's an idea," Hermione Thunderlight, the charms mistress nodded thoughtfully.

"We can give her some work to do, and hopefully the isolation will finally make her wake up," Pippa went on, but Karen shook her head. "I'm not sure that will work, don't forget even on her own she makes enough noise to wake up the dead. I doubt she'd even write anything on any piece of work she's given."

"From a practical point of view, no, we all know she won't do that, but at least we can prove when it comes to whether or not she can stay at this school by simply saying we had taken measures to give the students the chance to learn without their classes being disrupted but she still refused to do any work and we can also present the proof of what she has done; her disruptive attitude in the lessons, blowing up the cauldrons in potions, flinging ingredients into potions that causes them to blow up, broomstick accidents, and the damage to one of the common rooms," Pippa pointed out to her deputy headmistress, who nodded in agreement. "That is a good idea, Pippa."

"Alright, we can finalise the plans in a bit, I'm getting sick and tired of talking about Beatrice. Right now I want to know about our other newest student, Mildred Hubble. How is she doing?" Pippa asked, unsure if her aura which was already tinged with frustration because of Beatrice Black, had become noticeable to her friends and colleagues because of her sudden worry for the girl.

"I think we have a budding enchantress, Pippa," Lexi Bluebell smiled. Lexi was a tall, willowy woman with a somewhat dreamy quality like an elf, but the woman's eyes held a passion and gentleness for her subject and her students. Pippa had chosen her to teach enchanting because of her skills and abilities, but also her no-nonsense approach to the subject. If she believed Mildred was a budding enchantress, then she was.

"Really, in what way?" Pippa leaned forwards eagerly.

"Well, Karen arranged for Mildred to spend a few minutes with all of the teachers who ran courses that weren't taught at Cackles, to give her a taste of the classes and to also help her catch up with them," Lexi said, knowing she was already telling Pippa something she already knew about. Pippa had asked Karen to see if it would be a good idea, and apparently, it was. "Anyway, she only needed to hear my explanation for how enchanting worked and she instantly knew how it worked. She naturally grasped the principles, but the problem with Mildred is she was never given the basic lessons of magic that would have helped her at Cackles. She was never told until recently witches and wizards tend to think of what they want a spell to do, so she has no real idea of what her magic can do. That's the tragic thing."

"I was the one to help her in that corner," Pippa pointed out, once again wondering what was wrong with the Cackles teachers.

"We know, but I am just thankful she is doing so well. It will take her time to catch up to the level of the others in her class, but she is improving," Lexi went on with a smile, clearly pleased by her new student.

Pippa smiled back. She had studied enchanting herself at college and had picked up a few tricks over the years from her travels, but it was always good to find a new student who was good at it themselves. "How is she finding the class?"

"Well, as you know enchanting is one part imagination and one part science, and while Mildred's not exactly scientific, she makes up for it with her imagination. The girl is a natural artist, Pippa, but she does have a way to go."

Pippa nodded, accepting the report before she turned to Karen. "She's in your tutor group, how is she shaping up?"

"I think she's a joy to be around, and she's been instantly accepted into the non-magical student community we've got at Pentangles, but she's also made friends with Zac and Sapphire, and that has helped her make inroads with the other students, so that is a plus. But I haven't seen her go out of her way to try to form new friendships with other students, which I think is something she's learnt from Cackles; she must have tried to make a few extra friends and because of where she comes from, Mildred was shunned."

"As a member of my tutor group, Mildred is a lot like any other kid; she wants to have fun but also wants to learn, and that's the beauty of having her around. But I am worried because at Cackles, she had next to no support. None of the teachers there was willing to try to help teach her the basics of the code, of how spells and potions worked," Karen replied, addressing the rest of the staff as well as Pippa herself. "One of the things we need to do is build the girl's confidence up, and from what I've gathered Mildred was very outgoing and confident when she first attended Cackles, but a few weeks later with the teachers treatment and the way the students harassed her and ignored her simply because of their bigotry, that confidence was shattered and don't get me started on the Star globe."

Pippa would probably never stop feeling angry for the way Mildred's first days at Cackles were handled; it was like the staff and students at Cackles had deliberately conspired to get rid of her and maybe they had, or perhaps they had simply decided to teach her in the same manner as the other girls because they didn't know any other method and because the code meant she should learn magic for herself, but Pippa and her teachers, especially Karen, who knew the real reason. "Bigotry," she shook her head, "it's bad enough when its said directly to their face, but their actions spoke louder than words. Right, how about her other lessons? Selina?" she prompted the potions teacher.

Selina Rainstorm was a beautiful woman with dark skin with her long shining black hair done up in a high ponytail, but unlike Hecate Hardbroom Selina didn't dress completely in dark colours, she always wore an apron for her lessons or dressed in a lab coat like a stereotypical scientist in the non-magical world, or a tunic for demonstrating a really difficult potion, and unlike Hecate, Selina didn't just make the girls brew potions, she also showed them how they worked.

Selina was deeply passionate about her subject, and she took it extremely seriously. She encouraged people to speak to her if they had problems, she welcomed questions about the recipes and what would happen if something different was added to the mix. She didn't penalise students for that. She felt it was a great way to learn.

That was why Selina loved Pentangles - it gave her the excuse to make her students practice magic without looking like an idiot.

"I know Hecate Hardbroom's an old friend of yours Pippa, but I think she has really put Mildred off potions for life," Selina began, knowing Pippa truly did not want to hear that but she needed to tell her the truth. "It's only the fact I'm more patient than she is, and actually show her where she goes wrong along with Alice's potion basics classes that the girl is learning potions and actually succeeding in parts every now and then. Okay, she still makes mistakes, but I don't punish her for that."

Pippa had been dreading this part of the meeting for a fortnight, and she had spent a long time debating with herself whether or not she should either just get on with it and listen to Alice and Selina's potion lessons first, or wait until the end. She had made her decision at the last minute, but she had not wanted to hear Hecate's name.

"If you look at Mildred's file from Cackles and see her grades in potions, then you would see she is a terrible student, but when I had her in my potions tutorial with Zac and Sapphire before the Spelling Bee contest began, she was actually a good student; she was diligent and she followed my advice to the letter, and she truly excelled. The potion wasn't marvellous, but it was a good effort. It also showed that Mildred could brew a potion correctly if she was encouraged and not shouted at," Pippa observed remembering the lesson in detail.

"I wouldn't trust Hecate Hardbroom's opinion on a student to tell me what they're like, I judge someone by what I see them do, Pippa, but you're right; Mildred does respond well to encouragement, not shouting or someone looming above her shoulder and criticising everything she does," Selina replied. "But the problem is, she doesn't have a clue about how the ingredients work, and she needs to definitely work on her basic brewing skills."

"I'm teaching her those skills," Alice interjected. "But the good news is she grew up learning how to do things and then trying them herself, so that gives us something to work on."

Pippa still didn't like the slights towards Hecate, no matter how bad things had gone between them but even she knew Hecate had done Mildred a grave disservice. "I saw Hecate's method of teaching personally, and it reminded me of some of the old methods of potions teaching-," she said, but Selina quickly interrupted.

"Pippa, those old practices of harassing the students were designed to make them learn from their mistakes, but 8 times out of 10 they caused more problems than they solved," Selina said, "though many believed the method helped students reach their potential, and it did in some cases. But that was because the students had already known what to expect thanks to their parents. Some others don't have that advantage. I have no idea where Hecate learnt them from, but I can tell you that class performance can go both ways. Hecate Hardbroom…. you know what it is too difficult for me to work out because I don't know how her other students fare overall.

"But Hecate Hardbroom's methods are prehistoric; I'm sure she's a good teacher. I'm certain her other students do brilliantly because their parents taught them what to expect in her classes. And she is a phenomenal expert on potions, I know that; I've read her articles. But would I want her teaching my students, including the students from the non-magical families, not a chance," Selina said grimly, looking around the staffroom as if daring someone to contradict her. "Potions is a delicate science where the smallest mistake could do badly wrong. And apparently, she didn't really teach her lessons about how the potions could be botched up. But everyone here knows that potions are delicate, she knows that and yet she never took Mildred aside. All Alice and I can do is mitigate the worst of it."

Karen's eyes crinkled as she looked from one witch to the other. "How is she doing, I mean is she taking everything that your class offers, Alice, and then uses it to be better in your classes Selina?"

"Yes," both witches replied at the same, and they smiled at each other. "Mildred is certainly taking everything from my class and putting it into practice," Alice went on, and Selina added exasperatedly, "But what in the name of the Great Witch was Hecate Hardbroom thinking by not taking Mildred to one side, and give her hints and tips to help get through the potion classes?"

Pippa sighed. "I am starting to think that some of the teachers, and many of the students, decided to make her life difficult, and when she didn't perform well it solidified in their minds she was a lost cause."

"The only time a student would be considered a lost cause would be if they are definitely capable but completely unwilling to learn," Karen pointed out, and many teachers agreed with her. Karen went on, a tinge of anger in her voice. "But that does not excuse the fact they could have taken Mildred to one side, given her advice, helped her in some way - to hell with the code; it doesn't apply to girls or boys from non-magical families."

"But she is improving?" Pippa clarified, hoping to not get into a debate about the code; she didn't like some of the code but knew there was nothing she could do about it. Besides, thinking about the code reminded her of the Great Wizard. Many witches and wizards respected him, but Pippa wasn't one of them because of the man's old-fashioned beliefs.

Selina nodded before she turned to address Karen. "Yeah, but I think she should spend a bit more time in Alice's class for a week or two to improve her potions basics, to see how well she can do in my lessons. We've discussed this at length," she pointed at herself and Alice, "and we feel that while Mildred is improving, she should gather more momentum and learn more while she's succeeding in potions."

Pippa glanced at Karen. "What do you think?"

Karen nodded. "I'll discuss it with Mildred, but I'll want to hear more from you two about your plans."

"We're okay with that," Alice replied.

"What's Mildred like with broomstick flying?" Pippa asked.

Candice Winterhead, the flying instructor, sighed, a pained expression appearing on her face. "Mildred is an okay flyer," she began slowly, "but when I asked her about her broomstick flying test I was amazed they pushed her into it without giving her time to adjust. It's no wonder she had accidents, why didn't they teach her the ins and the outs of broomstick flying, and given her an extension so she could pass it? Okay, she might not have done brilliantly, but at least she would have passed after a few days of practice."

Pippa noticed Karen rolling her eyes, knowing her deputy had gone through this misery personally. "Many witch and wizard schools expect their pupils to pass the broomstick flying tests in their first year, but I've always found the test premature because, while its an essential quality of a witch or wizard, there are so many techniques any child can learn."

"And I know that," Candice said, "I passed my test with flying colours when I was eleven, but that was because I had practised long and hard on my broomstick. But three years later, a cousin taught me a trick on a broomstick that was so elementary I was annoyed with my school for rushing the test. I felt there should be one every single year, but there wasn't one, and then you persuaded me to put off the test for a few years. I agreed with you because I knew it was a good idea."

Pippa smirked a little at the memory. She had originally wanted her students to perform a test at the age of twelve, but Candice had argued back with her. There were good points for both arguments, and the two had fought for a little bit until they'd reached a compromise. Now, each term the students expecting to pass a broomstick flying test would need to put it off for a little bit before they gained their qualification a few years later.

Every year Pippa had to field letters from annoyed parents who were too traditionally minded who angrily protested the delay in the broomstick flying test but fortunately, with how many students who grew up and sent their own children to Pentangles, Pippa was able to put up with them.

Her smile faded. "Do you need time to teach her?"

Candice shrugged. "I think so," she said slowly, "if I can spare a few hours with her, alone, we might be able to help her improve."

Pippa turned to Karen. "Speak to Mildred on your next talk, tell her about the extra lessons and the matter of potions."

Karen nodded. "Okay," she said, making a note on the pad in her lap.

"What about transfiguration, how is she there?" Pippa asked Gloria, hoping she didn't come across as anxious, but she was sure it shone through because the teacher instantly put on her most reassuring smile. "Oh, don't worry, Pippa," Gloria said, "Mildred is doing okay in my class; true, she is finding things difficult, but she's quite a good magician."

"How do you mean?" Pippa was glad it wasn't just her who was surprised by the description, but Karen's interest was very clear.

"I asked Mildred if she had performed a multi-transformation spell before, and she described in detail how she had been threatened with expulsion if she didn't turn a mouse into a frog," Gloria shook her head, "she had apparently transformed another girl into a pig and had been changed in turn into a frog by the girl. Mildred managed to transform the mouse into a log, a dog, a clog-,"

"A what?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"A clog, a shoe, basically," Gloria said.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "Not bad, I mean I'm not an expert on transfiguration but transforming a mouse into a few objects, some inanimate and some alive is impressive-."

"Apparently not for Miss Hardbroom," Gloria interrupted, sneering the name in annoyance. "She was prepared to expel Mildred simply because she hadn't transformed the mouse into a frog. Talk about inflexible."

"How did Mildred get out of expulsion?" Miranda asked.

"Miss Bat, the chanting teacher was nearby, she was impressed by the multi-transformation spell, along with Mr Rowan-Webb; the man had spent 30 years of his life as a frog, courtesy of Miss Gullet, who'd stolen his position of Spells Science teacher at Cackles, and Miss Cackle."

"That was lucky," Pippa commented, wondering whether her old friend was deliberately ignoring the good points about the girl. "But what are your impressions of Mildred's spell work?"

Gloria sighed. "Mildred definitely needs to work on her spells. She was struggling a little bit, but I told her the secret of transfiguration is to visualise the transformation. That seemed to do the trick, but she definitely needs time to improve. In a fortnight's time, you and I should talk and see if she needs extra tuition, is that okay with you Karen?"

The deputy headmistress nodded in approval.

"That's to be expected," Pippa said. "What about Technomancy, Miranda?"

Miranda leaned forwards and looked from one teacher to the other. "Mildred has three advantages when it comes to Technomancy, Pippa," she began in her lilting accent. "The first is it's a new magical science, therefore the basics aren't really taught to anyone except new students from old students who've left Pentangles, so the class learns the principles from scratch. Second, the subject uses non-magical technology, and like the other students from outside the magical world, she knows how to use phones, iPods, CD players, etc."

"Third, because Technomancy is taught in a classroom, she knows what to expect since in primary schools out in the non-magical world students are taught by teachers telling them how something works. It's really easy for Mildred to learn in that environment because its all she's known for years."

Pippa had already gathered that because she had seen the education practices of non-magical schools. "How is she finding the class?" she asked.

Miranda shrugged. "Mildred's having a few problems with some of the concepts, the potion and the runes needed to make the techno-magic effect work, though its hardly a surprise; it took Wilson Cloister, the inventor of technomancy years to find the right combination of potions and runes to imbue magic into technology. But overall she's having fun."

Pippa nodded at Hermione. "What do you think about her?"

"Like some of the others, Charms is a specific type of spellcasting that isn't typically taught to children in their families, so once again Mildred has the advantage of learning something new from scratch, and like many new students expecting a typical spells class, she has to buckle down with them. But I think she has a gift; granted, it takes her a while to become good at casting several spells, but she's doing well."

"Do you think she needs to be tutored privately to bring her up?"

Hermione sat quietly as she thought about her response before she replied. "I think she's doing well at the moment, but for now I'll take a wait and see approach; it's too premature to do that now."

Pippa nodded, pleased that so far Mildred seemed to be doing well.


Mildred could say honestly that she was loving Pentangles. On the one hand, the school was like Cackles, but on the other, it wasn't. The lessons were amazing and the teachers went the extra mile to help her learn magic more than the teachers at Cackles had ever done. Granted, she still made mistakes in potions, but thanks to Potion basics class she learnt more about brewing in a single hour than she had done in a month under the tutelage of Miss Hardbroom.

She had been pleased that Miss Miller had simply told her about the decision to put her in Potion Basics to do a little bit of catching up with the others instead of doing what her old potions mistress would have done and simply pushed her there without telling her until the last minute. The level of trust was amazing to Mildred. The teachers were treating her like an adult instead of a simple retarded child who didn't understand what they were telling her.

The best thing, however, was she had more friends at Pentangles than she had ever had at Cackles. There were other students from non-magical families, and they'd formed a mini-community inside the student's ranks, they provided help to any new student but they all helped one another.

The culture of Pentangles was different from Cackles because while there were students from magical families, there had been students from non-magical families as well, and they had passed their experiences to their children, but the teachers actively encouraged the students to play the magical and non-magical games together so they could embrace the cultures of both worlds. Mildred had been surprised when she had discovered a cinema of all things in the school only instead of a white screen, there was a gigantic mirror that played the movies and TV shows for the students. The cinema, like the mirrors the students had in their rooms, was a privilege that could be taken away if the students had done something to step out of line.

As she stood chatting with her friends - Zac and Sapphire had done a good job integrating her into the school, and she had begun to make friends with other students, someone bumped into her. Mildred turned and found herself looking at Beatrice Black's face, and she rolled her eyes when the other girl laughed at her.

"How mature of you," she murmured, but Beatrice had begun bragging loudly to anyone nearby, though if she hoped they'd listen to her then she'd be waiting a while.

Sapphire and another girl, Claudia Periwinkle, overheard her and saw her looking at Beatrice. "I wonder how long it will be before she's kicked out," Sapphire commented, her usually bright expression clouded with an ugly frown as she looked at Beatrice with total dislike. Mildred had noticed that Sapphire seemed to dislike Beatrice more than any other girl or boy at the coed school, but she hadn't asked why.

Some of the others in the group overheard Sapphire, and they grimaced at the loud spectacle Beatrice was making.

"I heard she screwed up transfiguration, but the teachers don't have enough to get rid of her," Terry Mortlake said.

"Where did you hear that?"

Terry waved airily. "A great magician never reveals his secrets, but the teachers are compiling a list of things to get Beatrice forever."

Mildred didn't like hearing about someone everyone wanted to kick out, it reminded her too much of what had happened to Cackles. "Do we have to talk about it?" she asked, not liking the hopeful expressions on their faces even if she understood them. It hadn't taken her long to see Beatrice was what Miss Hardbroom had called her.

The Worst Witch.

Sapphire noticed her expression of sadness. "Oh, Millie," she said. "Do you know something? I think if the teachers at Cackles had you and Beatrice in their classes, then they would want you to stay while getting rid of Beatrice."

"You mean that?"

Sapphire nodded.

"When she first came here, there was quite a lot of worry. She's gained quite a nasty reputation for herself, but we tried to give her a chance, she's the one who threw it back in our faces," Claudia added.

Zac smiled at Mildred. "You want to learn magic, but Beatrice doesn't seem to understand or want to understand that we do as well, and she bullies us. She even tried bullying the older years, but they soon put her down for that."

It kind of figured; she had left Cackles to make a new and fresh start, but she had to encounter the Pentangles version of Ethel Hallow. Beatrice Black was like Ethel in many ways, but where Ethel had earned her place as Miss Hardbroom's favourite in the first year, Beatrice was actually the worst student in the school, and she had made the same mark in other schools as well.

Mildred felt it put things into perspective - she had spent months being told she was hopeless and that the teachers were only keeping her at Cackles as a favour to Miss Cackle, but she had really thought herself as a bad student.

Mildred entered the enchanting classroom, smiling when she saw Miss Bluebell, who spared them all a kindly smile, though her expression noticeably darkened when she saw Beatrice still talking her head off. Mildred sat down at her desk and found herself looking at a small piece of wood with a stone and a small potted plant nearby. Mildred ran a finger over the wood lightly, it didn't feel like it was particularly strong, in fact, it felt like it was quite rotten.

"Today class, we will be experimenting with enhancement spells. This is a basic enchantment, but its a step up to being able to manipulate the very environment. Now, many enchanters have over the centuries misused their capabilities to put people under their spell, but this lesson will be the first of this type. So far, you have learnt beauty inducement and blessing manipulation, but there are other means a trained enchanting expert can use."

Miss Bluebell paused for a second. "Enhancement spells are related to quality manipulation, which is why you have the stone on each of your desks. Your job after you've worked on the enhancement spell which will be applied to the wood to make it stronger than it is in nature is to use the quality spell on the stone itself. Now quality can mean anything, from the shine of the stone, or general sharpness if it has a jagged edge."


For the next twenty minutes, Miss Bluebell lectured them on the spell and how they had to picture it. Mildred got straight to work. A few months ago, Mildred Hubble, Cackles student would never have been able to perform well in this class but after two weeks at Pentangles with hours of Spell basics' lessons and tutorials under her belt, along with support from Miss Bluebell who actually took the time to explain how enchantments worked out and how their magic worked, Mildred managed to enhance the piece of wood. When Mildred had seen and felt the wood it had been rotten, and it looked like a penknife could saw through it. But after waving her hand over the wood for a minute, picturing it becoming stronger, she just left the wood alone for a second, eyeing it for a moment before she waved her hand over the wood again, picturing the damage done to the wood, the black spread of the rot like infected flesh, and she pictured the wood fighting the infection and becoming healthier. The darkness was pushed out as though it was being told, "go away, you will never be welcome here."

Mildred smiled as the dark rot in the wood faded and was replaced by a more healthier colour. When it was finished, Mildred leaned back with a smile.

Miss Bluebell's voice interrupted her thoughts. "How did you do that, Mildred?"

The dark-haired girl jumped in her chair and turned to find the enchanting teacher standing by her shoulder. "Miss Bluebell, I'm sorry, I know you told us to enchant the wood to be stronger-," Mildred babbled.

Miss Bluebell held up her hand. "You've got nothing to be sorry for, you've done brilliantly. In fact, you have done something that enchanters have been doing for years, but I was going to show you the spell in the next class."

Mildred felt sheepish for doing something so advanced, but Miss Bluebell held up her hand. "Don't worry about it, Mildred. In the next lesson, you will be shown ways of developing the skill, okay?"

Mildred nodded, thankful that the teacher was not harsh enough to rebuke her for getting ahead of everybody else. After the class, Mildred was talking with her friends again about the class when Beatrice stepped in front of her, a sneer spread across her face. "Bet you liked that didn't you, Trouble, showing us up in class?"

If there was one thing she was thankful for Ethel Hallow for it was becoming used to acerbic attacks from other witches and wizards. But where Ethel and Miss Hardbroom were a little more subtle about their insults, at least they had been more observant. Mildred sighed, she was quickly becoming a veteran of these little confrontations. After Mildred had restored the health of the wood, some of the other girls had asked Miss Bluebell if they could do it themselves, and the teacher had jumped at the chance to teach them something new.

"If others could do it, so could you," Mildred retorted and moved to step past the obnoxious girl, but Beatrice simply wouldn't let up. "Don't walk away from me, you pathetic, non-witch-!"

Mildred gasped as she felt someone smack her back and she fell forwards, the voices of Miss Bluebell and her friends overlapping each other -

Suddenly she found herself in the arms of someone, and Mildred felt as if time itself had slowed down. She was in the arms of a boy, and her breath caught in her throat as she gazed at him. He had longish hair that was combed neatly but some of it fell into his hair. He wore black-framed glasses that hid beautiful blue eyes. Mildred found herself lost in those eyes.

"Are you okay?" She heard someone say.

"You have beautiful eyes," Mildred heard someone else say before she heard Sapphire let out a cough, clearly holding back laughter. "Erm, Millie, you can let go," she said.

Mildred turned to face Sapphire, and her eyes crinkled in bemusement before she turned back to the boy, who was looking at her with a shy smile. Mildred blushed madly when she realised she had been the one to comment on his eyes, and she jumped out of his arms, her face flushing at the realisation she really had liked being in his arms.

"Thanks!" she squeaked and she rushed off, her friends chasing her, teasing her in a good-natured way.


Merlin Langstaff watched bemused as the dark-haired beauty left - beauty? He thought to himself, what am I thinking? I've only just met her. He turned to Zac, who was leaning against a wall, a smirk on his face. "Who was that?"

"Mildred Hubble. The new transfer student from Cackles Academy," Zac replied, the smile still on his face.

Well, at least he knew her name. Merlin smiled and realised he wanted to know more about Miss Hubble.


I had to add that last part.

PS - In case you noticed, I borrowed some of ImaginationOfAFan's Welcome to Cackles teachers from Pentangles with kind permission.