Chapter 29

It was her second class of the morning and Gwendoline was just completing her introductory instructions. Her second-year spells class were assessed on a group task this term, where each group had to develop both the theory and practice for a new spell. She asked them if there were any questions, but none were forthcoming, the young witches were keen to get back to work on their task. Smiling, she urged them to join up with their groups, when she heard a gentle tapping on her classroom door which was almost drowned out by the rowdy movement of witches in conversation and stools being dragged across the stone flagged floor.

"Come in" she called

The door opened gently to reveal Victoria, a first-year student with a calm, serious face made extraordinary by her large, compassionate brown eyes.

"Excuse me Mistress Fairwind" Victoria began, stepping into the room with polite confidence, "but do you know if our first-year potions class was cancelled this morning? It is just, Miss Hardbroom hasn't turned up yet and we were wondering if everything is alright?"

Gwendoline felt a temporary flutter of panic at the back of her throat, but she kept her expression calm and even as she replied.

"It hasn't been cancelled as far as I know. But Miss Hardbroom has quite a lot of commitments at the moment so she may have been held up somewhere. I will come along with you and speak with the whole class and then see if I can find out why she has been delayed."

Victoria nodded and Gwendoline turned back to her own class.

"Will you be alright if I step out and see to the first years for a moment?"

There were a few distracted nods across the room, but the class were so engrossed in their groupwork that most of them had not even drawn their eyes away from their papers to investigate the source of the disturbance.

"Don't spare my feelings girls, I can tell when I am not needed" Gwendoline responded with a laugh, before gesturing to Victoria and following her out of the classroom door.

They made their way up the large central staircase, unusually silent in the time when most of the college occupants were ensconced in their various classes. Gwendoline turned to Victoria and asked in as neutral a tone as she could muster.

"Did you ask anyone else where Miss Hardbroom was before you came to me?"

"No" Victoria shook her head "there was only one other class on our corridor, but it was Mistress Broomhead and… well, I didn't think I should disturb her, so I came straight to you"

"Very wise" said Gwendoline, meeting Victoria's eyes with a wry smile. "Now, let's see what we can do"

Gwendoline followed Victoria into Constance's familiar classroom which was full of the burble of unrestrained chatter that always came with an idling class. The chatter lulled as soon as she entered, and each of the students looked at her expectantly. Gwendoline was slightly surprised to see that every seat in the classroom was still occupied. She thought what a testament it was to Constance's teaching, that not a single student had felt a twenty-minute delay was too long to wait in hope of her instruction.

Victoria wended her way back to her seat through the fully occupied room and Gwendoline smiled at her warmly before greeting the class and making her way towards the front of the room. She took the short walk as an opportunity to survey the classroom. The potion for the day was written neatly on the board in Constance's clear and concise hand. A stack of spare level four textbooks was piled on the corner of her desk for use by any forgetful student who did not have their own. Beneath the window, the ingredients for the potion were prepped and portioned ready for each witch to make use of. In Constance's usual style, the classroom was completely ready to run an excellent potions class, the only thing that was missing was Constance herself. The prepared classroom answered Gwendoline's first concern, it was clear that Constance had, up until yesterday evening at least, every intention of delivering her class this morning. Whatever was causing her delay was clearly either something unexpected or something out of her control. She turned and addressed the class

"Miss Hardbroom seems to have been delayed this morning, but it looks like we have everything we need to make a start. Is this the practice potion for your end of year exam?" She gestured to the board and was met with a murmur of assent. "Good, so if I could have someone to distribute these ingredients, and let's get these cauldrons lit"

Gwendoline observed how quickly the class became alert, with two students at once coming forward to give out the ingredients and the rest deftly setting up their cauldrons. Gwendoline recognised the keenness from her own days as a graduate teaching assistant. It was a rare and special bond when the class not only wanted to work for their own exams but also to ensure the teaching assistant looked the best they could in front of the rest of the faculty. It confirmed Gwendoline's long held suspicion that Constance was born to teach others.

"Alright" Gwendoline announced after allowing the class to settle into their potion making "I will go and see if I can find out what has delayed Miss Hardbroom. I will be back shortly"

Gwendoline closed the door on the second class she had left to their own devices that morning and stood for a moment in the welcome quiet of the corridor to consider where Constance could have got too. The possibilities began to spiral in her head, but she forced herself to think rationally, and decided to begin in Constance's room, to see if that held any clues to her whereabouts.

The hallways of the tower where silent, and Gwendoline's footsteps punctuated the quiet as she hurried towards Constance's room. She pushed open the door and found the room bathed in hot, inky darkness as the morning sun strained through the heavy midnight blue fabric of the drawn curtains. She heard a soft mewling sound followed by a gentle, padded thud, as Morgana leapt from the desk to the floor and began entwining herself around Gwendoline's ankles with affectionate urgency.

Gwendoline's breath caught as she could make out a dark figure, lying silent and still on the bed in the corner of the room. Lifting her feet carefully to avoid the cat's pressing attention, she moved rapidly over to the window and pulled back the curtains, dousing the room in clear, white sunlight. It illuminated the figure of Constance, lying fully dressed and unmoving on top of the bed clothes. Her skin was grimly pale, accentuating her dark shadowed eyes and fresh bruise which was blossoming a brilliant violet just below her temple. Gwendoline moved closer and was relieved to see the rapid, butterfly-flutter of a pulse in Constance's neck and the lethargic rise and fall of her breath in her chest. Gwendoline reached out to gently shake Constance's shoulder.

"Constance" she said gently, then again with more urgency.

Constance's eyes flew open with a shocked urgency and seeing Gwendoline, she attempted to push herself up into a sitting position before falling back with a soft cry of pain. Gwendoline looked down to see Constance's wrist was reddened and swollen.

"What time is it?" Constance asked, looking round in confusion at the sunlit room.

"It's nearly half past ten" Gwendoline replied "Constance! Stop!"

On hearing the time, Constance had used her other arm to lever herself out of bed and on to her feet.

"But my class" Constance exclaimed, stepping into her boots.

"I cannot believe you" Gwendoline's temper frayed "A student tells me you have disappeared, I find you here, unconscious and covered in bruises and all you are concerned about is being late for your class. Forget the class, tell me what happened!"

But Constance wittingly ignored her, her focus apparently still on getting to her class. She tried to smooth the worst of the creases from her dress, wincing in pain as she jarred her sore wrist once more.

"Curse this damned wrist!" she cried out in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, and Gwendoline could see the beginning of tears glistening in her eyes.

Gwendoline reached out and sent several waves of soothing magic into Constance's wrist to heal the swollen and bruised flesh. She saw Constance's rigid stance slacken slightly and realised her friend's reaction was driven more by pain and panic than anything else.

"Thank you" Constance said, her voice returning to a more even tone, and with a flick of magic she had smoothed the creases from her dress and rearranged her hair into a neat bun.

"I've seen to your class; they are getting on with the work you set" Gwendoline reassured. "Now, please, tell me what happened. Did you have the potion again? I thought we agreed you wouldn't take it anymore, knowing what it does"

"I didn't take it, at least not willingly" Constance gestured to her healing wrist but seemed to decide there was no need for detail. "She knows, or at least she strongly suspects that I have seen the letters"

"Are you in any more immediate danger?" Gwendoline asked, ever pragmatic.

"No," Constance replied after a moments consideration "I think she cannot risk losing whatever the connection is between our magic. I think, for the time being, the safest thing is to carry on as normal at the college and remain as visible as possible."

"Alright" Gwendoline agreed reluctantly "but you must tell me at once if anything changes"

"I will" Constance agreed. Their eyes met for a moment and Constance gave a small smile "and thank you"

And with that she disappeared to her class.