The box with the silver mirror flew out of Mildred's hands and landed in Constance's. Constance waved her finger over the mirror. The mirror rippled, revealing the the words Hello Constance Hardbroom.
"Why can't I touch it?" Mildred asked, like a child who'd just been told they couldn't have the toy they'd always wanted. Constance stood still, deep in thought.
Even if she told Mildred, Mildred wouldn't understand, and would probably use it to her advantage. After all, everyone knew Mildred as Mildred Hubble, nothing but trouble. Trouble seemed to follow her anywhere and everywhere. But maybe if she told Mildred, she'd feel better. Mildred had shown the greatest act of kindness to Constance, something that Constance considered a foreign object.
Mildred watched her ex teacher. Although Constance showed no emotion, it was clear that she was considering her options. Mildred didn't want to invade, in fact, she didn't mean to invade, but now the mysterious Constance Hardbroom's personal life was coming into the open, Mildred felt as though she was bound to discover more.
"I never meant to be the worst. It sort of just happened. And I always felt as though you weren't bothered in encouraging me and making me feel better. You never smiled, unless you found something amusing. I don't know what made you so miserable, but you're a child now, not the fearsome Potions teacher you once were," Mildred said. Constance just stood there.
"Mildred Hubble, how dare you talk to me like that!" Constance said, flipping like the switch on a kettle when the water's boiled.
"No Constance Hardbroom, don't you use that voice on me. I'm not scared of you anymore. I just want to know about that mirror. I won't tell anyone about it, I promise," Mildred said, shocked at her sudden burst of confidence.
"Fine. But I can't tell you here," Constance replied before folding her arms and transporting them both into a dark part of the forest surrounding the castle, next to a clear blue lake.
"Where are we?" Mildred asked amazed. She'd seen lots of the forest in her time at the Academy but this was something she'd never seen. She went over to a rock next to the lake and put her bag on the floor next to it.
"In the heart of the forest. This is Overblow Lake," Constance said, before sitting on a rock.
"Overblow Lake? Isn't this area out of bounds and cursed?" Mildred asked, expecting Constance to instantly transport them somewhere else.
"Out of bounds? Most certainly. Cursed? Most certainly not. That's just a story I made up to a first year when I first started working here since I regularly visited. They'd almost entered here so I took them back to the castle and told them that it was cursed. They told others and that story went through generations since," Constance explained, "It wasn't meant to be told to anyone."
Constance removed the silver mirror from the box. It gleamed in her hand.
"So what's the story about this useless old thing?" Mildred asked disrespectfully.
"Mildred Hubble, just because it's old does not mean that it's useless," Constance said, with a glare of warning in Mildred's direction, "It's a family heirloom. More of a family burden. Mildred, this mirror could kill you if it even brushed past your skin. One touch off someone who it doesn't belong to and something terrible happens."
"What terrible thing happens?" Mildred mocked, giggling when she said terrible.
Constance stood up, but Mildred gave her a friendly push, trying to say that she was joking. Constance fell in the lake and screamed. When she emerged, the mirror was undamaged, but there was a tear in her black pinafore, and the tassels on her sash were floating in the water. Her arms were cut. Her hair that had been in a tight bun had fallen down and was just pasr her shoulders. "The rocks at the bottom were sharp," Constance said, while going back to sit on the rock.
Constance looked at the mirror. Although Mildred could not read minds, she could read faces, "Wait, you have this dangerous artifact and you don't even know what it could do?" Mildred asked. She felt ashamed for mocking Constance earlier.
"No Mildred, I don't. There's stories, rumours. My mother gave it to me before she was murdered. I had to flee with my older brother. I was going to give it to his daughter today, I'd even managed to arrange time off. But then this all happened. It tells you when it's ready. It makes you think you're going to die. But I didn't," Constance said.
Before Mildred could ask anymore, she was back in her room on her bed, lying down. She knew she was not dreaming, but she was lying in her bed. Maybe it was a dream after all.
The bell ringed altering the pupils that there break had ended and they had to be in lesson. Mildred shot up and went to the cupboard where her bag was usually stored. There was no bag to be seen. Panic rose through Mildred. It wasn't a dream.
Her bag was sitting by the lake. It was miles away, and would take days to get to by foot, hours by broom. She grabbed a map. If she flew, she'd be gone eight hours. She could ask Constance, but that seemed risky. A risk too risky to take, Mildred thought.
She could always go without her books and say they got wet. They'd only got chanting. They didn't have chanting books unless they were learning a new chant and had to write about it.
Realising it was her only option, Mildred ran to chanting, determined not to be late for her lessons twice in a row.