Disclaimer - I don't own the Worst Witch.

A little treat for all of you.

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Unicorns and Griffins.

It was funny, Hecate mused to herself as she prepared to go to bed after spending the past three hours trying to get to grips with her paperwork and catch up on what was new to the pile. Contrary to popular belief she didn't really like the paperwork but she knew she had to stay on top of the lot before she was inundated. But for tonight she found it next to impossible to concentrate on her work, and she knew why.

It had been two days since she and Ada had gone to Hercule's flat to clean the place out and sort through what paperwork her brother had had before he'd died. The paperwork was resting in a corner of her office and her suite just waiting for her to find the time after putting a sizeable dent in the paperwork she'd been accumulating for the past week, but Hecate didn't know if she could look through it after the revelation she and Ada had discovered in the flat.

The revelation Mildred Hubble was her niece. Hecate closed her eyes as her mind conjured memories of the impressionable young girl who had fallen into the school pond along with Maud Spellbody, cheated on the potions test after taking Ethel Hallow's ingredients and then saved the school from Agatha Cackle. But those memories were overshadowed by the knowledge she had been trying to drive the girl away. Mildred was a witch. There was no doubt about that at all in Hecate's mind. The reason she had never wanted the girl in the school was because Cackles lacked the facilities to help educate a girl from a non-magical family though right now it was likely there would be others attending the school. Hecate remembered the meeting she and Ada had had with Pippa Pentangle only weeks ago.

Pippa had given both her and Ada some good and strong advice about how to teach students from non-magical families, and while the traditionalists would probably frown at the thought of girls learning their skills from scratch and having to spend a great deal of time learning how to fly a broomstick which was a sharp contrast to what happened with Mildred, Hecate knew Ada would take it on board.

Ada was determined to try to make up for what went wrong with Mildred. Hecate closed her eyes. For someone who had caused a lot of trouble during her time here at the Academy, Mildred had certainly made a sizeable impact on the school. Maud and Enid were both close-knit but there was a tangible feeling of guilt in the air every time Hecate met the two girls.

Hecate shook her head knowing precisely why her brain was betraying her with thoughts about Mildred Hubble. While she had been delighted and shocked Hercule had even had a child, there was still something that didn't make any sense at all. She had pointed the matter out to Ada and the other teachers and they realised she had had a point; if Hercule had gotten Julie pregnant and he passed on his magic, it wouldn't be a daughter who received the gift of magic. It would be a boy. It was one of the fundamental principles of magic and yet Hercule had either forgotten that little detail or he had never learnt it.

But it made no sense. All of the teachers knew of Mildred's obsession with finding out if any of her family had been magical or not. They had heard the details from Miss Bat, who'd described how disappointed the girl had been when she'd discovered she was the only member of her family to ever attend the Academy.

A part of Hecate had been a little bit contemptuous towards the girl for just relying on one measly little archive like the one in Cackles, but where else could Mildred have discovered the information? She had only experienced two places of magic - Cackles and Pentangles - as far as she knew, she didn't know enough about the Pentangles structure to be sure, but knowing Pippa as she did, Hecate expected Mildred to be experiencing more of their world soon enough.

Pippa would definitely want Mildred to know more about the magical world and its community to help her integrate more as a witch, and as much as Hecate was reluctant to admit it to herself, Pippa was probably a better teacher in that corner since no one in Cackles had taken the trouble to take the girl out and give her more knowledge about their community. Such knowledge would've gone a long way to helping Mildred.

Mildred's quest to learn more about her family was well known since the girl hadn't really kept it or her aims a secret. But if she was Hercule's daughter then how in the name of Circe, Merlin and Morgana, had he managed to birth a witch when all the known laws of magic said a witch could only be born from the maternal lines, and a wizard could only be born from the paternal lines?

It made no sense to her and Ada. After a few minutes of trying, and failing, to concentrate on her paperwork again, Hecate stood up, scattering the papers from the last potions test. It was hopeless! She couldn't concentrate, she needed to find out the truth, and she knew only one person who could give them to her.

After composing a quick note for Ada incase the headmistress came looking for her and donning her cloak and hat and the photo album before she triggered a transportation spell. Hecate had never been to the Hubble's flat before, and when she arrived she found the place in virtual darkness. The curtains weren't drawn over the windows or the balcony door, letting in streams of light that created vivid shadows over the knick-knacks and furniture in the flat. The light from the estate only served to make the shadows seem more ominous.

Standing in the darkness, Hecate was now questioning the wisdom behind her decision to come here unannounced and probably unwelcome. She and Julie Hubble had never gotten along and she doubted that things would improve after what had happened with Mildred. But she still needed to try.

"Miss Hubble?" she called out softly; she had read somewhere that the walls in some flats weren't too thick, the last thing she wanted to go through was an encounter with their police in case the neighbours heard her, but she couldn't think of any other way to find out if Julie was here or not. It was quite late. Flicking her hand, she summoned a candlestick holder in her hand and explored the flat while looking for Julie. She didn't pay much attention to the decor, there would be plenty of time do that later when she and Julie were talking.

One of the bedrooms was clearly Mildred's. It was a lot more spacious when you compared it to one of the rooms, certainly her own, at Cackles. But the bedroom that interested her the most was Julie's.

The woman wasn't there.

Hecate tried to remember what Julie Hubble did as a job, but she had spent a lot of her time trying hard to ignore the existence of the Hubbles, but now she wished she had bothered to memorise more about the family. She cursed herself for being so jaded, so cowardly and so bigoted towards two people simply because they hadn't grown up with magic around them. But that was in the past.

After she let out a sigh of frustration she left the bedroom and headed back into the living room - and she stopped when she heard the scratching of a key in the lock. Hecate stood there, feeling stupid as she stood there, feeling like a rabbit caught in the light of a spell at night, as the door opened and Julie Hubble walked in. Or rather, stumbled in, muttering and grumbling under her breath but Julie quickly stopped in surprise when she realised who was in her home, but her face was still in blackness Hecate couldn't read her expression. But she could read the body language; before she had stepped into the flat and noticed her, she had looked like she was a second away from collapsing in exhaustion. Now she was alert.

More than that, she was annoyed, particularly when she realised who was in her flat.

"What the hell are you doing here in my flat? Bit ironic, don't you think? Not so long ago, you were accusing my daughter of being a thief, but here you are now, in my home, unannounced and unwelcome. Did you see anything worth stealing Miss Hardbroom or are you just planning on bleeding Mildred and me dry of what we've got?"

Hecate winced. She had known this meeting would be difficult, but in her haste to find out more about her brother's relationship with this difficult and irritating woman she had not stopped to think about waiting for a more convenient time. "I need to speak to you," she replied, hoping Julie wasn't going to make this harder than it was.

"What makes you think I want to speak to you?" Julie asked, her exhaustion making her voice more biting than normal, as she stepped into the flat and closed the door and flicked a light on. Hecate took a good long look at Julie and saw the nurses' uniform she was wearing. Her expression was worn and very tired. Well, that explained why she was late back home. Hecate had spent the past twenty minutes trying to find a suitable enough way to speak to Julie, but it was no longer possible. Any hope she'd had of diplomacy had gone out of the window. It was clear Julie wasn't going to take anything she said well after what happened with that damn Star globe.

Instead, she decided to show her. She took out the album from the pocket-lined into her cloak and opened it on one of the appropriate pages. Julie's face quickly went from angry to surprised, and then concerned.

"Where did you get this?" she asked at last, no longer hostile. But that didn't last long. "The bastard! He was stalking me and my daughter!" she snarled.

Hecate said nothing about Julie's hostile attitude towards Hercule. He did stalk her and Mildred.

She'd found the pages where Mildred was a child and had come to the same conclusion Hecate had earlier.

"Hercule's dead," Hecate said, mentally kicking herself for being so brief.

Julie looked up at her, the anger in her expression melting off her features as she regarded Hecate with confusion. "Hercule's dead?" she whispered in surprise before she shook her head. "How did he die? What has it got to do with you?"

"He died in a car crash-," Hecate began but Julie interrupted. "Typical," she whispered before she realised she'd interrupted. "Sorry, carry on."

But Hecate wanted to know a bit more about her brother's life. "Why do you say typical?"

Julie gave a tired smile. She was clearly more exhausted than the witch suspected, but she had enough energy to say this. Magic only knew what she had dealt with at the hospital tonight, Hecate thought to herself. "Hercule loved fast cars," she explained. "I lost count of the number of times we were forced to pull over by the police when he exceeded the speed limits. Scared me every time."

At the mention of cars, Hecate fought down the urge to shudder. She had seen enough and heard enough about the non-magical world to know how dangerous their cars were. Being a witch, she didn't need to worry about things like that. But she knew how easy it was for a car to get smashed or crushed to pieces.

"Hercule had five loves - money, cars, alcohol, women, and living well. That's it," Julie went on, but she looked down at the photographs in the album Hercule had made, and she focused her tired eyes on the pages. "Why are you here, Miss Hardbroom, and why do you have this album?"

It was time, to be honest. "Hercule was my brother," Hecate admitted. "I don't know whether he used a different name when you were seeing him, but whatever it was, his real name was Hercule Hardbroom."

Julie puffed her cheeks out in thought for a second before she blew it out. "You're Hercule's sister? I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but while I'm sorry for your loss he was a liar and a lech."

"A lech?" Hecate repeated, she didn't know that term.

"He eyed women continually; it was quite annoying whenever he took me out on a date, only to see him eye up a redhead with bigger breasts than with what I've got," Julie explained, her very tone telling Hecate there really had been such an incident. "He also made promises that he had had no intention of keeping. But why does Hercule have pictures of Mildred in the album?"

She flicked through the pages just as Hecate was about to reply before she took a deep breath. "Ah, I see," Julie whispered to herself. She shook her head. "I always wondered if the idiot heard me, clearly he didn't."

"What do you mean? And why is it you and Hercule never married? I understand what you mean by him being lecherous, he never did have much sense. I mean, if he's Mildred's father-," Hecate was cut off when Julie snapped, clearly at the end of her patience.

"Mildred is not Hercule's daughter!" Julie's voice wasn't a shout, but it wasn't a whisper either.

Hecate looked nonplussed. "But, the album-," she tried to say before she was cut off again by a frustrated shout that was growing in Julie's throat, but the woman controlled herself with a visible effort. Hecate kept quiet, realising this woman was on the verge of an eruption.

"Miss Hardbroom, I have just spent the past seven hours at the hospital, and I am tired and hungry," Julie said. "Listen, make yourself comfortable on the couch while I get something to eat, and I'll tell you the truth. Something Hercule clearly didn't realise."

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Hecate had expected Julie Hubble to cook something, so she was surprised when she came back with a bowl of cereal. "Will that be enough for you?" she asked curiously, wondering if this was typical for Julie's diet.

"Yeah, I had something to eat earlier during a break, but I'm usually too tired to cook when I get home after a night shift," Julie replied. Hecate waited impatiently while the other woman ate her 'meal' but she wasn't in any hurry. Besides, she had to admit this flat was not hers, she had no right to tell the owner to hurry up. She had eaten a couple of spoonfuls before she put the bowl on the coffee table.

"I had been a nurse for a few years when I met Hercule," she began, "I won't bore you with the story of how we met, it wasn't anything special. But suffice to say, I was taken in by him. It was only later that I realised that Hercule was not interested in a long-term commitment."

Hecate nodded and sighed. "That sounds like him," she commented.

Julie went on. "We were together five months," she remembered. "At first he was charming, considerate. He took me out to the movies, flashy clubs and restaurants. One of the only downsides to being with him as he drove like a maniac, another was he didn't mind eyeing other women. But we were intimate. We had sex quite a few times, but after a few months, I was a little bit curious about why I wasn't pregnant. I had a friend who owed me a favour test my fertility. I'm quite fertile, so that left Hercule."

Julie's face became sadder. "You don't want to know what I had to do to get a sample off to the labs so he could be checked, but the result was clear. Hercule couldn't have kids. We later had an argument about something completely unrelated, and our relationship just changed overnight. He had always been one to notice other women when I was with him, but from that point onwards our relationship soured. I was stood up half a dozen times, he would openly and shamelessly flirt and ogle other women, and he kept driving like a maniac. Sometimes whenever we went to a bar or a club, he deliberately caused a scene. He was like a little kid throwing a tantrum."

Julie grabbed her bowl and took another few spoonfuls of the cereal before putting it back on the table with a tired, disgruntled sigh. "Anyway, after a date where he forced himself to have sex with me, treating the whole thing as something he didn't really want to do but felt like it was more like an unpleasant chore his parents had given him, one night after we had a little split, he called me and told me he'd make it up to me by taking me out to this restaurant. I waited outside for two hours. I was so angry I went home. Hercule left a message on the answer phone saying he'd make it up to me and that he was sorry, but I didn't hear anything back from him. I didn't call him back either. I was just so frustrated by the lies and the promises, the lack of commitment to the relationship that I decided he wasn't coming back."

She sighed. "I was visiting my sister Mo when I met him," she mumbled, lost in her memories.

"Who?" Hecate whispered.

"Dave," Julie smiled wistfully as she remembered him. "He was a trainee plumber at the time, working with someone. I dunno what he's doing now. Anyway, we started dating, and that led to other things."

Hecate blushed bright red, wondering if her own lack of experience with men despite her was making her wonder if she really wanted to know the sordid details.

Fortunately, Julie went on. "Dave and I were together for a while, but he had to leave when he received a job offer or something along those lines. I don't know where he is now, I don't even know if he's married and has kids," her breath hitched in her throat as she bit down on her lip to stop herself crying at the thought. She had dearly wanted to be married to him.

Hecate didn't know what to say. She'd been angry that Mildred wasn't her niece after all, but hearing this….. she cursed Hercule's irresponsible attitude and the way he'd treated this woman. Not all of it was Hercule's fault, not directly at least. Finding out he was infertile added a new dimension to the equation, but Hecate wasn't sure how to feel except it was kind of a shame because it meant there weren't other little Hardbroom's running about.

"I lost touch with him before I found out I was pregnant with Mildred," Julie's voice brought her back to the present and Hecate paid attention to what she said next. "But when one boyfriend leaves, the old one comes back."

"Hercule."

"Who else?" Julie asked with a wry, but tired smile. She sighed. "He phoned me out of the blue, said he wanted to meet with me. At that point, I realised I wasn't going to get married, and I was already pregnant and was showing. The moment Hercule saw me, he noticed the pregnancy, it wasn't invisible after all. We had had sex not long before he'd stood me up, so he naturally made assumptions. Hercule began talking about not wanting to be committed to a relationship, to not be tied down in a marriage, said he wouldn't be a great father. He just wouldn't shut up when I kept trying to tell him I wasn't pregnant with his child but with someone else's baby. I even asked him why I would want him involved, but I don't think he heard me ask him that."

Hecate closed her eyes as she pictured the scene in her mind, the image helped by the photograph that had been burnt along with the other into her memory; Hercule standing in one of his smart suits, speaking over Julie, who was trying hard to get her point across while he went on about not wanting to be tied down to a family.

She quickly realised Julie had stopped speaking, and so she opened her eyes and found the other woman looking at her curiously. But before she could say anything, Julie took her silence as permission to carry on.

"Hercule just wouldn't let me get a word in, and I didn't have a clue if he was even listening to what I was saying. Anyway, I finally thought 'sod it' and I lost my temper and slapped him across his face to shock him enough to shut him up. I told him I no longer wanted him anywhere near me, so he didn't need to do anything for the baby. I also told him he couldn't be committed enough to run a day-care centre for a week. I didn't know at the time if he'd heard what I'd said about the baby not being his, or he'd misheard me, but it's clear he misheard me."

Julie closed her eyes; as soon as she got this out of the way, the better off she'd be. "Both Dave and Hercule were out of my life by the time Mildred was born," she said. "I lost track of Dave and couldn't tell him he was the proud daddy of a beautiful little girl. I raised Mildred alone, though I had my mum and my sister to help. They've been a godsend."

Hecate closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered; part of her wondered why she was saying sorry. It was the part of her that had been dismayed by the thought she was related to Mildred through the same blood she'd been related to Hercule.

It was her compassionate side that was feeling sorry for Julie having to cope and struggle with her brother's attitude and his here today, gone tomorrow habit.

Julie seemed surprised by the apology. "Sorry for what?" she asked. "I'm happy; I have my family. I've got Mildred. But she's still trying to learn how and why she's got her powers. She discounted her father not long before she began her search. Apparently, Maud or Enid told her only the maternal lines can create a witch."

Hecate was surprised and she couldn't hide her shock Mildred Hubble had found that much out of magical inheritance.

Julie sighed at the expression on the woman's face. "That's the reason I don't like you, Miss Hardbroom," she whispered as she ate her makeshift meal. "You think just because Mildred and I aren't from a magical family, you think we're idiots. Didn't it occur to you that if you gave Mildred a bit of carrot, she might have found answers for herself? Did you really imagine that if someone told her something she wouldn't take it onboard? We're not stupid. Mildred is purely innocent of not knowing magic; you and the others at Cackles had no right to look down at her for not understanding how magic worked."

Hecate didn't like the slights against her, but Julie went on. "If things had been different, and if Hercule was both fertile and responsible, and Mildred did become a witch, what would you have done if you had learnt she was a witch from a woman who's not magical?"

"I don't know," Hecate lied to her face. She and Constance were both similar in personality; if Hercule had had a union with a non-magical woman like Julie, they would try hard to annul it, but she didn't have any intention of telling Julie that.

Fortunately, Julie didn't press the issue. In fact, her expression darkened a little bit. Hecate wondered for the very first time if this woman was a mind reader.

Suddenly she felt she had overstayed her welcome.

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Mildred was grinning from ear to ear as she petted the Griffin. They'd terrified her at first, particularly when the magical zoologist had warned her and the class how dangerous and formidable Griffins could be, and since their beaks were longer than Mildred's forearm, she believed them wholeheartedly.

Their beaks and talons looked sharp enough to shred metal, and Mildred definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of one those sharp points if the Griffin was furious. The magical animal squawked a little bit and gently nudged her in the chest. Mildred was once more thankful that her natural love and empathy for animals allowed her to make an easy bond with the Griffins.

Pentangles offered a magi-zoology course, but because of the sheer needs of the animals, there weren't any Griffins, unicorns, or any other magical animal on the grounds. But Miss Pentangle had a few connections with a few magi-zoology reserves and parks that the students were allowed to visit in order to learn about the creatures. Mildred loved the magi-zoology classes because they opened her eyes to the prospect of seeing different animals, but since the class only visited the parks once every month or so she'd missed out on the last one. When she'd heard she was coming to the park today she had been delighted, but when she had met the Griffins she had been terrified.

The Griffins were massive, they were easily as big as a land rover but they were far quicker and more agile thanks to their wings. When they'd appeared to the Pentangles' students, their teacher and the park keepers had warned the students not to make any sudden moves. Mildred, typically, was the only student closest to them, and so the Griffins had approached her so quickly that before she even had time to blink they had surrounded her.

But the Griffins were now studying her, sniffing at her curiously and one of them was gently nudging her.

Without any fear, Mildred had stroked the glossy feathers of the neck, deciding to treat the Griffins with the same fearlessness she used to approach all other animals.

It seemed to work; the Griffins seemed to appreciate bravery more than they did fear.

The only Pentangles students were both amazed and terrified by the Griffins, but Mildred's confidence seemed to give them the confidence they needed in turn. It was Sapphire who approached the Griffins first, the girl needed to summon all the bravery she had in her body to just touch one of the Griffins, and after that, the entire class were enjoying their company.

One of the Griffins' newborn babies was particularly taken with Mildred, and the girl felt really flattered and she gently stroked and petted the baby in case she hurt it by accident. Sapphire sat down next to her, a similar smile on her face. "You sure know how to make friends, Millie."

"I like all animals," Mildred replied, wondering to herself if she should tell her friend about the charities she and her mum contributed to on a monthly basis to help animals make it through the next 300 years, but she quickly decided against it.

Sapphire was about to say something when Mr Lima, the teacher of the magi-zoology class approached, his face was bright with excitement. He was a thin wizard who had surprisingly muscular arms. He reminded Mildred of a picture she'd seen of Victorian bakers, but he had a passion for magical animals than he did for baking.

"I say, Mildred, you seem to have a gift for magical zoology," he commented, his eyes looking like they were filling with tears at the sight of the young Griffin who was currently nudging Mildred's stomach gently. "Would you like to see the Unicorns?"

Mildred's eyes crinkled. She wondered if there was an ulterior motive behind the question; if there was one thing she had learnt in the last few months it was that some people had something in their minds that wasn't generally meant to be nice.

"No fair," one of Mildred's classmates moaned, making the brunette witch flinch. "How come she gets to see the Unicorns, it will take us months to see them!"

"Maybe if you concentrated on your work, you'll see them," Lima replied bitingly before he turned back to Mildred.

"Is it possible for me, Sapphire, Zac and Mary to see them?" Mildred asked, her tone suggestive but firm. She wasn't going to back down. Mary was the girl who'd spoken out.

The professor blinked as he realised it and he turned to the keepers, who nodded agreeably. "Okay," Lima replied.

After saying goodbye to a disappointed Griffin baby, Mildred was led to the Unicorn pastures with Mary, Sapphire, and Zac. She couldn't have left some of her class out, it wasn't in her nature to be selfish, but the professor had said only they could see the Unicorns because they had a vast amount to do with the Griffins before they could switch to Unicorns.

The Unicorns were every bit as magnificent as Mildred had imagined them to be, and the moment they saw them, Mildred and Sapphire fell in love with them. Mary herself had to work hard to stop herself from gushing over them as well. Zac seemed to like them as well, but like most boys, he didn't see the point in gushing over them.

Mildred didn't pay her friend much attention as she stroked and petted one of the Unicorns, taking care to avoid the horns. The light wasn't amazing, but being close to the Unicorns was like being close to a gentle silver light. They seemed to radiate light in the same way glowworms did, though Mildred didn't like the comparison.

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Miss Bluebell was probably Mildred's favourite teacher, though if she were honest she preferred all of them and Miss Pentangle who made sure all of the lessons taught at the school were more diverse than the collection of lessons she'd been forced to endure at Cackles. But there was something about enchanting that Mildred liked more than any other class she was taught, it could've been the fact Enchanting was a subject taught from scratch or it was a lesson where she could channel her imagination.

But that didn't mean the lessons couldn't be difficult. Miss Bluebell, once she'd shown them the principles of a specific aspect and taught the introductory lesson to a new branch of enchanting, was every bit as demanding as Miss Hardbroom could be. But unlike HB, Miss Bluebell was more gentle and didn't instantly dismiss failure. Instead, she encouraged her students to do their best and to try to reach their potential. Miss Bluebell seemed to have learnt the lesson Hardbroom had never learnt; just because some students can't do something at once didn't automatically mean others couldn't they only needed a bit of time.

Mildred didn't fall into that category, though while she found some of the lessons challenging, she loved them. She loved learning new things about magic, especially enchanting. Miss Bluebell didn't seem to mind herself whenever Mildred didn't or couldn't immediately get something right the first time around. In fact, she seemed pleased and even told Mildred to practice the magic in her room whenever she had the chance to see if she could do better.

And so Mildred did. It was Miss Bluebell who had made Mildred realise that one of her mistakes at Cackles was never really experimenting with her powers or learning about the code, but thanks to the lessons she was receiving and the extra help she and other students from the non-magical families were getting, Mildred felt herself becoming more confident about magic.

Things were definitely looking up for Mildred since she'd arrived, though while Beatrice Black was still at the school, she didn't let that bother her too much. Beatrice wasn't the only bully in the school, but those others weren't really on Mildred's list of things to worry about.

Then there was Merlin…. For a girl who'd whispered to Ethel Hallow during the Spelling Bee that Zac was just a boy, Mildred could admit to herself she was a bit hypocritical when it came to her thoughts of Merlin, but ever since that day where Beatrice shoved her into his arms, she started seeing the boy more and more. When she'd learnt his name, she wondered if this Merlin was better looking than the old one.

Aloud.

Needless to say, her friends had teased her mercilessly about him for days. Merlin had started spending a little more time with her, but unlike where Mildred had seen Ethel and Felicity gush and sigh around Zac, Merlin seemed a little uncertain about what she'd say to him, but unlike her former schoolmates, Mildred had more experience around boys. It wasn't long before she gained some confidence in him, and it didn't take long for them to develop a friendship, and now Merlin and Mildred were often seen close to one another.

It was at this point in time where Mildred discovered she had a talent.

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Mildred was amused when she returned to her room, her brain still reeling from the chorus Sapphire had made before Miss Miller came and told her to shut up, though in more polite language; "Mildred and Merlin sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" But instead of being truly embarrassed, she was actually feeling smugly happy.

She and Merlin had been snuggling in the common, and she had to admit he was a lovely cushion. If he'd tried to kiss her then Mildred would probably not have protested. She was smiling dreamily while she had a gentle flush to her cheeks at the thought of her and Merlin kissing happily. She only hoped Sapphire didn't cheer her on, she'd be embarrassed if they did kiss and she was cheering her on, but if Beatrice Black said anything, then she would be forced to see how far Mildred had come in magical casting. The brunette haired witch didn't really care if she got into trouble with Miss Pentangle over it, but it would be justified in her mind.

She entered her bedroom and headed over to the desk. Her nights are pretty much the same as always; she would spend an hour or so studying, then she would try to chat with her mum, or even Maud and Enid, and then she would paint or draw. Thinking about Maud and Enid made Mildred smile a little uncertainty; their old friendship would probably never be restored to what it had been before that disaster with the globe, but at least they were now on speaking terms.

While many people would probably be surprised by Mildred's decision to become friendly with those two again, she'd done it because she hadn't wanted to simply turn them away.

But for tonight, Mildred wasn't really in the mood to use her mirror to call anybody, and besides it was unlikely Maud or Enid were in the mirror room back at Cackles (she still thought it was neat the students at Pentangles were allowed to call their friends and families in their own rooms instead of having to rely on a single mirror but figured it was only because the staff didn't want their students to be distracted from their studies), and she didn't really feel like talking to anyone tonight though she could try mum later.

Shrugging to herself, Mildred took some paper from a drawer and set about drawing something. Her new bedroom walls were practically covered with all kinds of paintings and drawings, but the best thing was each student had their own key to their rooms and were expected to lock them whenever they left, so no more beds being upturned and reduced to a pile of warped metal, and Tabby certainly approved of the luxurious surroundings.

It took her 20 minutes to finish drawing out the Unicorn herd she'd seen the other day. After that, she began drawing in the details, thankful that her artistic eyes had allowed her to capture and remember all the details of the Unicorns despite almost being blinded.

The picture she was drawing was going to be a pure pencil drawing, she doubted that even if she could find the right medium, paints or pastels would do much good in highlighting the beauty of the Unicorns which radiated light in the manner they had done. When she was finished with the picture, she pulled back and admired her work.

Situated in the pasture, with the trees surrounding a grassy field where the grass was allowed to run wild like, Mildred had spent a great deal of her time trying her best focusing on three of the Unicorns, knowing that the further away they were, the trickier it was to draw them. When she was finished she put the pencil down, the lead was worn down to a nub, and she leaned back in her chair while she focused on the drawing.

Mildred could honestly say she was truly pleased with the way the drawing had gone, and she smiled at it. Her mum had sometimes told her that she should become an artist, and said she had a talent that could make some of the old masters weep with joy. She wasn't entirely sure by what that meant, but she had taken it on board.

As she focused on the drawing, she wished that magical paintings and drawings could move, like in the Harry Potter books and movies. Unfortunately, the pictures and paintings were as static in the real magical world as they were in the non-magical world. Mildred wasn't sure why that could be; surely there could be a spell someone could invent which would be enough to make the pictures move?

She sighed, such a thing would really bring out a picture. The Unicorn picture she'd drawn wasn't beautiful in her mind, though other people would argue about that. But she, like many artists, didn't seem satisfied with her own work.

Neigh!

Mildred went still. What was that? Had her time in this school and Cackles finally driven her up the wall? Yes, that was probably it, she decided to herself.

She got up and was about to get something to drink when she heard another neigh followed by a distinctive horses whine, and she focused on the picture. Her eyes shot open and she gaped at the picture in awe.

The unicorns were moving!

Mildred blinked in surprise before she closed her eyes and forced the unicorns to stop. When she opened her eyes, the unicorns were as still as they had been before. Mildred had been a witch for a short time, and she knew not to discount something like this. She closed her eyes and thought very hard about having one of the unicorns prance about the pasture. She found herself smiling when she heard a neigh and a whine, and she opened her eyes again and saw a unicorn prance about the pasture, but that wasn't the only thing she was amazed by.

The unicorn was trying to nudge one of the other unicorns, clearly trying to make it move.

Mildred smiled and concentrated on the second unicorn before she added a third. Soon the entire herd was moving.

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"This. Is. Un-believable!" Pippa Pentangle whispered.

After experimenting with the unicorn picture, Mildred had spent the next half an hour seeing if she could make the other pictures she'd drawn and painted move and make sounds. She had quite a collection in her bedroom, but she definitely wanted to make sure this wasn't a fluke. Once certain it wasn't a fluke, Mildred had then called Miss Bluebell since she was sure this was under enchanting.

Miss Bluebell had been surprised by the excitable Mildred Hubble mirroring her and asking her to come to her bedroom, but ten minutes after seeing what Mildred had learnt she could do and Lexi was mirroring Pippa and Karen into the bedroom.

The three teachers had been watching Mildred make the pictures move before Miss Miller had a brainwave and left the room for a few seconds. When she came back she was carrying a black framed photograph of a woman who she resembled.

"Mildred, do you think you could make this picture move?" Karen asked, handing the picture over.

Mildred nodded and took the photograph and studied it. The picture had been taken quite a long time ago, but Mildred closed her eyes and visualised the woman's smile to be a little wider, and maybe wave. But she and Karen were a little disappointed. The picture didn't move.

Mildred instantly apologised. "I'm sorry, Miss Miller, but I can't make it move."

Karen smiled at the girl though she did her best to keep the sorrow out of her face to not alarm the girl or make her feel too guilty, "It's okay. I was just seeing if this ability worked with anything other than what you've drawn or painted."

"Mm, that's a good point. It looks like you can only make something move if you've made it, Millie," Pippa said.

Mildred smiled at the woman; while she was still a bit uncertain about the woman's motives for bringing her to Pentangles, she was grateful she had, and unlike Miss Cackle she was a little looser though she was unafraid to make it known she was a powerful witch and headmistress.

Miss Pentangle had begun calling her Millie a few days ago. Miss Cackle had never called her that, and truthfully the idea of the old woman saying it to her brought some strange images to her mind.

Mildred didn't really mind the woman calling her that, in fact, it was nice to have a teacher who was informal enough to say that. "I guess that makes sense," she commented. "Kinda like how everyone's got their own style for doing things, like how they dress, wear their hair, or even how they write. It works for them, not for others."

Pippa and the other teachers nodded in understanding. "What do you think, Lexi?" Pippa asked.

"I have heard of something like this, but it's not a common gift even among enchanters. Even I can't do it," Miss Bluebell admitted.

Mildred felt guilty and a little overwhelmed. "I'm sorry, Miss Bluebell-."

"Don't be," Miss Bluebell interrupted firmly; why did this girl have to feel guilty about every little thing? "Mildred, the whole point about teaching is to teach kids how to do things, and if they've got a talent then it's fantastic! You should be pleased!"

Mildred wasn't sure how to feel; while she had come a long way since she'd arrived at Pentangles, she still wasn't completely recovered from the hell she'd received because of Hardbroom and Gullet; while Miss Gullet hadn't been as extreme as Hardbroom, she had made up for it with her general attitude and manner. Between the two witches, you knew who was the most genuine. Hardbroom never put on airs and graces the way Gullet had done.

No. Miss Gullet was more insidious than that. When Mildred had first met the woman, long before she'd discovered what she'd done to Mr Rowan-Webb, she'd thought that Gullet was nice though her obsession with health and safety made her a little bit unpopular. The woman was all smiles and charm before the first lesson, and then she showed how nasty she could be. And Mildred was a well-chosen target, with her lack of knowledge when it came to magic.

Mildred had had dozens of detentions at Cackles before she'd come to Pentangles, and while many believed they were assigned by Miss Hardbroom it had been Miss Gullet who'd assigned the most of them. Miss Gullet had never missed an opportunity to mentally torment Mildred, and she seemed to take an offence a "non-witch" was in her class and had never allowed Mildred to catch a break.

She knew that if Miss Hardbroom had not been present at the time then Gullet would have made sure her punishment for getting the spell wrong in that class where she'd transformed Ethel into a pig because she'd been slacking off with Enid far worse. Mildred still kicked herself for getting herself roped into that bit of fun, seeing now that unless Enid made an effort, she might be tarred with the same brush as Beatrice Black.

But the point was those detentions she'd had to endure had made Mildred more than afraid and a little concerned about drawing too much attention to herself, but unfortunately, her tendency to get into situations beyond her control made that difficult. When Miss Gullet's crime had been discovered, Mildred had been delighted the woman was going, but she had been worried about the wizard teacher.

Mr Rowan-Webb had been kinder and more patient, but when the star globe happened he had turned on her like all the others, and that had hurt her.

"I am," Mildred admitted, "but what do I do with it? Won't I need to work on it?"

"Definitely. I think I should bring a few other enchanting experts into the school, is that alright Pippa?" Miss Bluebell asked the headmistress. Pippa nodded after a moment's thought. "Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but I'd like you to meet with the other teachers, Mildred," Miss Pentangle said seriously, "to see if charms or transfiguration can help you learn more about this while you work with the enchanters. Is that okay?"

"I think the more help I have with this, the better," Mildred replied to her headmistress.

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After the teachers had finally left Mildred to her own devices, the young witch decided she had had enough of magic for the time being, and she decided to mirror call her mother. The image of the mirror coalesced after she'd placed the card with her mother's mirror number and address on it, and an image of her mother pottering about the flat appeared. Mildred grinned.

"Hi mum!" she called.

Julie's reaction was classic, and because her back was turned she had jumped when Mildred had called out. Mildred couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. Julie glared at her daughter. "Mildred," she chided, though the loudness bordered on shouting. "I nearly had a heart attack."

Mildred instantly stopped laughing. Her mother rarely shouted at her, preferring to use soft words that were pointed, she didn't need to shout at her. "Mum, what's wrong?" Mildred asked when she saw the look on her mother's face.

Julie sighed. "I had a visit last night, Mildred."

Mildred frowned in confusion. "Who from?"

"Miss Hardbroom."

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Ooh, how do you think this will go when Miss Hardbroom and Mildred meet? Believe me, they will.