A Cause for Concern
Disclaimer: I do not own the Worst Witch or Weirdsister College series or any characters associated with them. No money is being made from this story.
Chapter 1: A Romantic Farewell
It was a warm summer evening in Cambridge as a young couple strolled together along King's Parade. To their left the imposing edifice of the King's College Chapel dominated the darkening skyline, the haunting strains of Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus drifting from its echoing vaults into the still evening air. The two young people walked in silence, immersed in each other's company and in the ethereal voices of the boy choristers.
The girl sighed, looking around her with a rather wistful expression.
"What's wrong Millie?" The young man looked at his girlfriend anxiously.
"Nothing really." Mildred Hubble looked up into the face of her boyfriend Ben Stemson, and seeing his concern tried to explain her feelings. "It's just that I'm going to miss all this."
"What, the music?" he enquired, the slight smile on his face revealing he knew that was not what she meant.
"No," Mildred shook her head. "Well, yes in a way," she amended. "I mean all of this." She waved her hand vaguely to indicate the city in general. "Cambridge and Weirdsister College." She sighed again, looking down. "And you," she continued. "I'm really going to miss you, Ben."
"Don't go then." He also looked down at the ground as he said this, avoiding her eyes.
"You know I have to." Mildred replied.
"I don't see why," he persisted. "There was no need for you to take up a post at your old school, you could have found something nearer Cambridge."
Mildred did not reply to this at first. A worried frown marred her pretty features as they continued to walk in silence
She had been going out with Ben for over four years now but recently their relationship had not been going too well. She suspected there were several reasons for this, but her acceptance of a teaching post at her old school Cackle's Academy was the cause of their most recent quarrels.
Mildred had never been able to fully explain to Ben why she wanted to teach at her old school, perhaps because she did not entirely understand it herself. Part of it was undoubtedly nostalgic. She had spent four years of her life at Cackle's, perhaps the most formative of her teenage years, and despite all the difficulties she had experienced there her affection for the place was strong. But there was another reason besides nostalgia, one she had never admitted to Ben or anyone else because it was too painful. Cackle's was where she had been dubbed the 'Worst Witch' and even now that still haunted her. Rationally, Mildred knew it was something she had long since lived down. But human beings, even witches, are not entirely rational creatures. So the opportunity to return in triumph to the place where she had been given that hated name and prove to the world, and most importantly herself, that it was undeserved was just too sweet to forego.
"It won't be that bad." Mildred broke a silence between them that had become uncomfortable. "I won't be a form tutor so I'll be able to spend the entire weekend away from the school, and the distance isn't really a problem. I am a witch you know!"
"Yes," Ben's voice was rather strained as he replied. "I do know."
Mildred winced a little at his tone, realising she had touched on another unresolved issue between them, Ben's discomfort with magic. It was not that her boyfriend thought any less of her for being a witch, just that magic itself was something he found disturbing. Ben was a scientist; he was studying for a postgraduate degree in Geological Science at King's, and the idea there were things science and rational thought could not explain was hard for him to accept. Mildred thought he had mostly overcome that discomfort by the end of her first year at Weirdsister, but recently his attitude to magic had been noticeably more hostile and this worried her a great deal. Magic was too much a part of her to ever give up and if Ben had trouble accepting that it did not bode well for their future together.
"I'm sorry, Millie" She was surprised to hear Ben speak after being silent so long. "It's your last evening before you leave and I'm spoiling it. I'm not being all that good a boyfriend, am I?"
She couldn't help smiling at him. No matter how irritating she found his distrust of magic at times, Ben had a boyish charm that never failed to win her over.
"I have no complaints on that score," she whispered, moving closer to him.
The kiss they shared was gentle at first but soon became fierce and passionate, a duel of tongues that left her aching and needy. Ben pulled her against him and Mildred could not restrain a soft moan as she felt how excited he was. She pulled away, panting for breath a little.
"Let's go to my rooms," she suggested. She saw him frown and hastily added, "I know it's a pain to sneak past the Porter but we've always gotten away with it so far."
To her surprise Ben shook his head and grinned at her. "No need," he declared. "My mother is away for the night visiting her sister and won't be back 'till tomorrow afternoon! We'll have the cafe and the flat to ourselves."
"Oh really?" Mildred gently ran her fingers over his mouth, wiping away traces of her lipstick. "And what could we possibly do to amuse ourselves, alone at your place all night?"
Ben chuckled. "I'm sure we'll think of something!"
"I'm sure we will!" Mildred's heart was pounding with excitement as she spoke.
They said nothing further but turned and headed back the way they had come, the swift pace in marked contrast to their previous unhurried stroll.
Behind them in the Chapel the chanting continued, the clear echoing voices seeming to speak of a different world, one with it's own tradition and logic that paid little heed to the ways of either magic or science. It was a world unconcerned by the trifling cares and passions of the men and women whose lives it briefly touched upon; for it had existed long before they were born and would endure when they were long gone to dust and forgotten.