Constance woke up the next morning and felt a strange, vibrating pressure against the top of her head. She tried to turn and look to see what it was but found she couldn't move. Whatever the strange thing was it was holding onto her head and had her hair in a vice grip. Carefully, she raised her hand and found whatever it was was soft and furry.
"Will you get off my head?!" She barked at the sleeping kitten which stretched innocently as she stood up. She miaowed softly and then walked down Constance's shoulder and sat on her chest, staring at her with her wide eyes. Constance wanted to push it away so she could get up and get ready for her lessons (which weren't for another two hours) but seeing how sleepy this little kitten was she couldn't resist having fifteen more minutes just this once.
The kitten closed her eyes slowly, blinking at Constance. Constance blinked back at her. The kitten purred loudly, appearing to nod her head as she padded the duvet on top of Constance's chest and then curled back into a tiny black ball of fluff and purred herself to sleep.
"Come on, Little One. You have to let me get up. You'll be asleep on me all day if you go on like this."
The kitten didn't move.
"Come on."
She stirred, stretching her long legs and paws and she opened her eyes, blinking at Constance again. As though listening to what she had said, the kitten climbed from Constance's chest and curled up at the end of the bed. Constance climbed out of her bed and got dressed, brushed her hair and then pulled it into her usual tight bun. She caught the kitten's reflection in her mirror as she rolled over in her sleep, purring softly.
Constance allowed herself a smile as she cast a spell to clean the litter tray and then stepped out of her bedroom. She made her way down to the staff room for the daily staff briefing before morning assembly. Amelia explained that they had been approached by a business that specialised in encouraging business skills in young people. When Davina had heard what the students would be doing for the day she was ecstatic;
"Ducks?!" She squealed excitedly, sending wet tea leaves flying all over the staff room table.
"Origami ducks," Amelia explained, "The students need to mass produce them in the great hall all morning and then try and sell their selection to the people who are coming in the afternoon."
"They'll be out of control by the end of the day," Constance stated, imagining the amount of havoc that would be caused if the girls were left to their own devices for the morning making paper ducks. If Davina got involved, which she definitely would given it was relating to her recent obsession with ducks, she would get them all hyped up and they would be completely out of control. Constance would have to cool down the first years straight afterwards and make them behave properly on their broomsticks. She was dreading the whole experience.
Amelia, however, seemed in high spirits, "It will instill the girls with some business knowledge and perhaps encourage them to be more enterprising. There is no need to be so worried about it. Davina will be there to look after them and will settle any issues that may arise."
Constance rolled her eyes, again fearing that her first years would be uncontrollable after the event. No matter how much Amelia tried to tell her that there was no issue she kept fearing the worst.
"Anyway, that will be on Friday so a nice way to start off the weekend for the girls," Amelia continued, "And the first years will need some official cat training which I'm sure you've already made a start on planning, Constance."
Constance blinked. She had jotted down on her desk in the potions lab something about broomstick training but with no cat of her own to display to the students she would be of little use, "Amelia, I don't have a cat."
"Well use your kitten."
"She's not mine. She's going back to Mrs Schwarz... isn't she?"
Amelia cocked her head at Constance, raising an eyebrow, "Only if you want her to. Do you?"
Looking out towards the window, away from Amelia's deep gaze that currently felt like it was x-raying her, Constance wondered if she could part from the little kitten that only half an hour before had been padding her chest and purring at her. The little skip her heart gave as she looked at the sleeping kitten in the reflection of her mirror... could she really part from that feeling? She looked back at Amelia who was obviously smiling at her, but she was resting her chin on her hand, her lips hidden by her fingers as she traced across her top lip with her index finger.
Constance shook her head almost impassively as Amelia revealed the wide smile that she had been hiding behind her hand, "I thought not. Well I'll leave a message with Mrs Schwarz's housekeeper and let her know she won't need to come back for the spare kitten."
The bell rang for assembly and the staff filed out of the staff room towards the great hall where the students were already in their seats. The main announcement of the day was about Duck Day. The girls rejoiced. The fact that they'd have nearly a whole day without lessons was a cause for great merriment. After that it was a case of going over any school rules that had been broken by students and reinforcing these rules with particular punishments - lines of "I must not fly my broomstick up the staircase with first years attached to the brush-end by their shoelaces" for example. Of course Caitlyn Shepherd had been involved in this incident, she was the first year in question but her behaviour was obviously instigated by Carla Honeydew from the third year, another badly behaved pupil who needed to be weeded out and shown how to behave properly.
Soon it was time for the first lesson of the day and to her relief, Constance had a free lesson that she could spend preparing for the upcoming flying lesson with the first years. She made her way back up to her bedroom to find the little black kitten watching the birds from the windowsill. She was making a peculiar clicking noise and her tail was shuddering.
As Constance sat down on her bed, the little kitten bounced down from the windowsill to greet her, rubbing against her forearm with a welcoming purr.
"Apparently you're mine now, Little One." She whispered as the kitten continued to nuzzle her, "I can't keep calling you Little One though, can I? You need a proper name."
The little kitten looked up at her and chirped, trying to climb onto her knee.
"What to call you. It has to be something magical. A proper Witch's cat's name," She looked over at her bookshelf, "Alice? No, you don't look like an Alice do you?" Constance shook her head at the kitten who blinked up at her, "How about..." She spotted another of her favourites - Gawain and the Green Knight. It was a story about King Arthur and there was obviously going to be a lot of magic in a story about King Arthur; dragons, wizard, daring knights, damsels in distress and a witch, "Morgana Le Faye... And there's your name - Morgana!"
She looked down at the kitten who purred loudly at her new name. The little Morgana padded Constance's lap with her front paws and looked as though she was about to doze off again but Constance stood up. Morgana miaowed in protest but Constance shook her head.
"No, we're having none of that. We are doing a bit of broomstick practice," She picked up the kitten which snuggled into her chest as she carried her downstairs and into the courtyard to grab her broomstick. The sight of Miss Hardbroom carrying an adorable sleepy kitten in her arms encouraged a lot of cooing from some of the students playing in the courtyard. Their squawking was diminished when Constance shot them a glare that her first years had branded her Medusa look.
She ordered her broomstick to hover (which was very tricky with only one hand free) and then carefully placed Morgana on the bristles. She tottered and then, with an undignified squeak, she slipped off the edge of the brush and landed on the cobblestone floor with a thud. The students were obviously watching Constance. She could feel her cheeks going red but bit her tongue, not wanting to frighten her kitten.
"Come on, Morgana. We can do better than that. All you need to do is balance on the broomstick. Like this," She sat on the hovering broomstick before she dismounted it again and picked up the tiny kitten, holding her so she could look into her olive green eyes, "Can you do that for me?"
Morgana looked into Constance's eyes and licked the tip of her nose with her raspy tongue. This gained another coo from the students, but Constance didn't discourage it this time as she placed Morgana back on the broomstick and this time she stayed in place.
Although she was standing with her tail perfectly straight and up towards the sky to maintain her balance, Morgana was managing to stay upright on the broomstick with no assistance from Constance, who was looking admirably at her pet. After a few more goes Constance was satisfied that her kitten was ready. She picked her up again.
"Well done, Little One," She whispered in an uncharacteristic baby-voice, "You did so well."
Morgana pawed her cheek and miaowed loudly, wanting to climb back onto her new favourite toy. Constance obliged, letting her sit bolt upright on her broomstick as the bell rang for the next lesson which was the cat training lesson with the first years.
At Cackle's it was only necessary for students that were in the third year and upwards to have their cats on their broomsticks whenever they needed to fly. It was, however, encouraged from a young age for the kittens to become used to flying otherwise the students could be left with a moggie that was only good for catching mice in the kitchens.
The first years filed through the front door of the school leading into the courtyard, Delia Willow's training attempts looked rather promising. Her kitten, Orion, was sitting like a parrot on her shoulder. Caitlyn, who had her laces tucked neatly into her boots after the shaming in front of the whole school that morning, had her kitten, Oliver, bundled like a koala against her chest.
The students saw Morgana sitting elegantly on the end of Constance's broomstick and were shocked that their form mistress could possibly own such a beautiful pet. Morgana was indeed the most beautiful kitten of the litter, though she was perhaps the most hyperactive. Her black fur was shining like silk in the early Autumn sun, her olive green eyes glistening as she looked up at her mistress but then she caught sight of her tail out of the corner of her eye. Constance gave her a sharp, "No," and she stopped, returning to her original statuesque position on the brush-end of the broomstick.
The first years formed a line in front of Constance and held their kittens, waiting to be greeted.
"Good morning, girls," Constance said crisply, "As I'm sure you are already aware the rest of your morning will be dedicated solely to training your new kittens. I know some of you have done some training with them already but it is essential that you have some official training. Now," she looked at her students and smiled at Delia, "Delia. Would you put Orion on the end of your broomstick and show the other girls how it is done?"
"Of course, Miss Hardbroom," Delia replied, tapping the brush. Orion leapt down from her shoulder and sat in quite the same way as Morgana, like an Egyptian statue. He seemed rather confident sitting on his broomstick.
"Very good, Delia. Now girls, I would like you all to try and do the same. Caitlyn," Constance sighed wearily, rolling her eyes. Caitlyn Shepherd was yet again being a nuisance. She was chasing Oliver away from the heels of her friend, Isla Moonshine, "What are you doing?"
She grabbed her kitten and bundled him in her arms again, "He fell out of my arms, Miss," she answered, blowing a long red hair away from her face.
Constance shook her head dismissively, watching as the girls tapped their hovering broomsticks and encouraged their kittens to climb onto them. The only one that seemed to be having a problem was...
"Caitlyn, whatever is the matter with your kitten? Did you not train him at all yesterday?"
As Constance stood behind her pupil she observed her kitten. Caitlyn said in a quiet voice, "His claws aren't very sharp, Miss. I think he's struggling to keep hold of the bristles."
Caitlyn knelt down to pick up Oliver as he slipped off the brush end again. He really was completely useless. Were it not for the fact that he was a purebred Witch's cat he would have been sent down to the kitchens to help catch the mice and rats. Sadly the job of "kitchen mouser" was better suited to a scruffy tabby cat than a silky black one.
Constance took Oliver from Caitlyn and glanced up at Morgana. She was still sitting patiently on the broomstick, washing her whiskers. She turned her attention back to Oliver who was squirming, eagerly trying to get back to Caitlyn. Constance placed him firmly on Caitlyn's waiting broomstick and told him to stay. And he did.
"How did you do that, Miss?"
"Assertiveness and patience, Caitlyn dear. That's all." She explained as she went back to Morgana who was staring at a flock of geese flying over head. She was making the same clicking noise she had done earlier and Constance's eyebrows knitted together as she looked at her. Morgana caught sight of her mistress and proceeded to look innocently up at her.
Constance observed the girls for a little bit longer until the bell rang for lunchtime. She put away her broomstick and carried Morgana to the staff room. She was greeted by a beaming Amelia who was reading a book about dieting and Patricia, who was eating what looked like a steak and kidney pie.
They saw the tiny kitten bundled in her arms and cooed like the students had an hour and a half before.
"Have you named her yet?" Amelia asked, tickling behind her ears. Morgana purred loudly at her touch, nuzzling into her hand.
"Morgana," Constance said, "After Morgana Le Faye."
"Ah from the King Arthur stories!" Patricia cried, spitting crumbs of pie all over the table.
Constance nodded, looking down at the kitten that was starting to drift off, cradled peacefully in her arms. She was actually quite surprised that Patricia was even aware of the King Arthur stories!
Davina swept into the room, flicking her shawl all over the place as she hummed a song under her breath. She creaked into a chair after she grabbed herself a pot of her Hags and Horrock's noodles and began to suck them up using her fork. Amelia turned to Constance and smiled.
"Are you getting on well, then?"
"Very well. She is such a good little kitten. I can't thank you enough, Amelia." Constance whispered as she rocked Morgana gently in her arms like a baby. All of the broomstick flying had really taken it out of her. As she looked down at the sleeping kitten in her arms, Constance realised she had never felt so lucky.
Thanks for taking the time to read this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. A big thank you to DreamsInLilac and plebs :D Next week will be Duck Day!