Last chapter! Hope you all enjoy it. And for the last time in this fic, the Worst Witch franchise belongs to Jill Murphy. She merely lets me borrow the characters on occasion.

To clarify the ages, I see girls coming to Cackles at twelve and leaving at sixteen, meaning they go to university at sixteen and leave at twenty two. A bit like the Scottish system but in reverse.

And a shameless fic plugging alert – my first Fenny and Gris story, 'Moving On' can be slotted into the gap between chapters nine and ten.

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Six years later

The summer sun beat down on the campus of Weirdsister College. Outside the massive, ornate chapel, the one hundred and thirty five students graduating that day whispered and giggled excitedly as they shivered slightly in their thin graduation robes. Despite the sunshine, it was one of those June days when the early morning freshness can almost be mistaken for cold before the sun really begins to warm up.

'Last time, Fenny,' Griselda murmured, looking over the gardens spreading out in front of the chapel. She could hardly believe it. Six years at the crème de la crème of magical education had flown by and now was the day that the graduates were fully getting launched on the world. Six years of lectures, labs, practicals, fun, sports, hard work, and a few explosions for good measure had melted away.

Fenella didn't answer at first, letting the memories wash over her, both of the last six years and their Cackle's Academy graduations, which some days seemed like a lifetime ago and some days seemed like they had just accepted their Witches' Higher Certificates from Miss Cackle, and snuck away from the potions lab after feeding the plants a magical mixture, which over time, would cause them to grow and take over the lab, resulting in a very cross Miss Hardbroom when she returned from the summer holiday.

Neither girl had really spoken of the ghastly trials Hecate Broomhead had put them through, so many years ago. It had taken some time to shake off the terrible scars that the experience had left them with, but they had never spoken of it to anyone since they had left school. However, Miss Hardbroom's assurance that their lamp spell would keep her trapped for many years to come was somewhat reassuring, even if they had been given 200 lines of Even though they did save the school, I will not keep dangerous and forbidden spell books in my bedroom.

Both girls had changed somewhat since they had arrived at Weirdsister. Fenella had added a few purple streaks to her dark hair, while Griselda had let her blonde mane grow until it hung straight down to her waist. Wearing smart but pretty dresses, and killer heels, combined with their black graduation robes, they looked every inch the sophisticated and chic university graduates. They were to receive their honours degrees in charms and potions with distinctions that morning, before going to Cackles to see the teachers again.

Although no current student had attended at the same time they had, their legacy had never waned and they had become something akin to urban legends to the girls, who all took delight in discovering the secrets of the castles, in the tantalising trail of clues they had left behind – after all, they couldn't let life at the castle get too dreary. On the other side of the staffroom door, a friend of Miss Cackle's at Weirdsister kept the teachers updated. Their instant and consistent success had surprised nobody. Equally unsurprising were their regular attempts to push their discoveries of magic just a bit further, which often resulted in something blowing up, or, on one memorable occasion during their third year, a fully grown dragon being accidentally set loose in the college. Miss Hardbroom often remarked that they were obviously trying to break their own record for blowing things up – in their Cackle's careers, they had blown up a classroom a grand total of thirty six times.

Fenella chuckled as she remembered their last legacy to the castle.

'I wonder how many times we'll blow things up when we're teaching,' she mused cheerfully.

As they had intended from so many years ago, they were going into teaching. They were in the process of setting their own school up and would start after the summer holidays. Their experience of teaching the staff their anti gunge potion had only confirmed that it was what they were meant to do.

'Well, we won't be short of stuff to teach them,' Griselda agreed, shaking her hair back from her face.' 'We'll have the anti gunge potion.'

'And the cosmetics.'

'And the time machine.'

'And the dance routines.'

'HB's going to have a fit when we tell her. I mean, we're not going to be the most conventional school ever, are we?'

Fenella smiled again. 'We could always leave out the… extracurricular stuff, and focus on the more traditional stuff. Speaking of which, have you got everything we need for this afternoon?'

They were whispering and giggling when the line started to move forward into the chapel, so the graduation could begin. They hastily sobered up (but not by much as they imagined Miss Hardbroom's face when they put their plan to lead the current students to another secret into action) as the line snaked forward to the seats in the front row, and they took another step on the journey that had begun at Cackles' Academy ten years before.

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Well, I for one am rather sad that's all over! And there's another little author's note so do bear with me a minute while I go into English Lit mode.

A character like Hecate Broomhead, while being a total horror for the Cackle's clan, is a godsend to fanficcers because she has so much potential – why is she so evil? As I said earlier, there are many excellent Broomhead stories circling the fandom, and they are all really good. But during the big snowfall last winter, an image of Fenella crying popped into my head, and I decided to explore another avenue of potential. We know how Broomhead would treat a student like Mildred, who she regards as the very worst – but what about the other end of the scale, the very best? Fenny and Gris have (up to a point) seemed like mini-HBs in terms of skill and talent. Surely they wouldn't go unnoticed for long? She seems to be a bit of a star collector, so no doubt she would have had plans for them.

This was the first multi-chapter story I've written for several years and possibly the darkest thing I've ever done so I really didn't know how it would turn out. So, to everyone who has read, reviewed and put up with more Latin and ABBA than one would expect in this fandom, and especially to NCD who has faithfully read and reviewed and given an idea or two from the very beginning, merci beaucoup!