It was oddly chilly for a July morning. The girls shivered as they stood in a line waiting for their turn to take the flying exam. Several girls wrapped their flying capes around them like a shawl to warm them from the breeze. Many had also pulled their hats down over their ears to insulate them from the whistling wind. They chatted among themselves to pass the time in the cold.
Mildred clung onto Tabby as he struggled to escape her arms. "Tabby please," she begged him. "Just this flight and then I promise you don't have to go on another broomstick until second year."
"Quiet, girls!" barked the deputy head. "Miss Drill will explain what is expected of you in this examination only once, and I anticipate that you will want to listen."
Miss Hardbroom, Miss Cackle, Miss Pentangle and Miss Drill stood in front of the girls. If Hecate was feeling the cold, she did not show it. She stood as tall as ever in a long quilted black dress, its upturned collar standing tall against her neck. Her hair was returned to its signature style, piled tightly on top of her head. Her colleagues however, were wrapped in thick woollen capes. Pippa was wearing a flowing pink cape that looked more fashionable than functional.
Miss Drill cleared her throat and began to outline how the assessment would go. She shouted over the wind "Okay girls, you will each fly one at a time over the castle wall, loop around the Medusa tree." She pointed to a tree that had twisted and gnarled branches that slithered downwards around the trunk like serpents. It did indeed look like the venomous hair of the Gorgon.
"Rumour has it that if you touch the tree you will turn to stone." Maud told Mildred in a whisper. "That's why there's that spooky statue in the woods. Of course I don't believe that, I think they put the statue there to scare us." Mildred wanted to ask Maud more about the statue, but didn't dare miss any information about the exam.
"You will return over the wall and dive down in a controlled manner. Finally, you will pick a sprig of rosemary from the herb garden and fly back to this spot and dismount. You will be using the rosemary in your potions exam later, so pick your plant wisely." The girls turned to each other, trying to work out which potions included rosemary in their ingredients.
The PE teacher pulled out a whistle and a clipboard from under her cape. "We will go down the list in alphabetical order. Eleanora Burdock, it looks like you're up first."
The girls watched as their classmates completed the course one by one with varying levels of success. Mildred looked at the teachers, they were intently writing down their observations about the girls' flights, there was no room for the girls to make any mistakes.
Naturally, Ethel navigated the course with perfection. Her dismount was textbook, and she smugly glanced down her nose at her classmates as she placed the rosemary sprig in Miss Hardbroom's hand and rejoined the group. Nightstar followed his mistress with the same sense of superiority.
Next along the alphabet was Mildred Hubble. Ethel stuck out her broomstick in front of Mildred as she walked past to the take off point. She smirked when she stumbled. "What a clumsy giraffe." She mocked.
Mildred cried out as Tabby managed to wriggle out of her arms during her momentary lapse of concentration and made a bid for freedom towards the teachers. "Tabby! Come back!" she rushed after him.
"Mildred Hubble." Miss Hardbroom materialised in front of her holding the cat. "How many times have I told you to keep your cat under control?" she held Tabby awkwardly in front of her as if he were a deflated witchball ball.
"Sorry, he just still really hates flying." Mildred said sheepishly. She took Tabby back into her arms and tucked him into her backpack.
Ethel tutted. She turned to complain to the line of teachers. "Surely Mildred can't be allowed to still fly with tabby in her backpack, she's had a whole year to teach him to fly."
"Now, now, Ethel. It may be unconventional, but we have all agreed that Mildred is indeed flying with Tabby on her broomstick." Miss Cackle said gently.
Ethel turned to the deputy head, Miss Hardbroom usually shared her disdain for Mildred. Disappointingly for Ethel, Miss Hardbroom gave a curt nod of agreement that the backpack was acceptable.
Mildred sent a grateful smile in the direction of the headmistress and deputy head, and with the backpack on her back, mounted her broom. "Sidesaddle please Mildred, not astride." Miss Drill said. Mildred couldn't see what difference the way she sat on her broomstick made to her flight. However, she obliged. She didn't want anything to get in the way of her getting a good grade in her exams. Miss Drill blew her whistle and the young witch took off. She sailed through the wind smoothly to begin with, gaining height a good speed, before an updraft at the castle wall sent her wheeling sideways through the sky.
Hecate pursed her lips as she watched her student flailing. Trust Mildred to lose composure on exam day.
Somehow Mildred managed to quickly regain control of her broom, and with a very focused look on her face, she swerved to rejoin the route. She leaned forward and sailed steadily towards the tree that looked like Medusa. Tabby yowled his displeasure at the flight. "Not now Tabby, I'm concentrating." Mildred whispered under her breath. Her hands were gripping the broom so tightly, her knuckles were turning white. She reached the tree and expertly manoeuvred her broomstick around it in an effortless arc. Smiling with the confidence the small success had given her, she willed her broom to move faster, and swooped into a rapid dive towards the rosemary plants. Her black flying cape flapped behind her in the wind.
Mildred focused her aim on a sprig that had an even distribution of green needle-like leaves around its stem. She knew that Miss Hardbroom would approve of her selection, she had always emphasised the importance of symmetrical foliage in potion making. The ground was quickly drawing nearer, and she levelled out of the descent sharply. Mildred hoped that it had looked intentional, and not like a last minute change of direction. She cast the doubt from her mind, and deftly plucked the stalk from the plant. Grinning she manoeuvred the broomstick back to the takeoff point. She hovered the broomstick above the ground and gently stepped off. The teachers scribbled notes on their clipboards. Mildred grinned, she was surprised at how well the flight had gone. She skipped towards her potions teacher, and presented the rosemary sprig.
"Thank you, Mildred." Miss Hardbroom said to her student. The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, so only Mildred would notice her approval.
"Yes, thank you Mildred, you may rejoin your friends." Miss Cackle said. Miss Pentangle gave her glowing smile and a thumbs up. Mildred smiled politely at her examiners and walked towards her classmates. Despite the path to her friends being obstacle free, she managed to stumble again.
"It is a good thing that this examination only focuses on the students' conduct in the air." Hecate whispered to Pippa. Pippa responded by giving Hecate an amused elbow in the ribs.
Maud and Enid beamed at Mildred. "Millie, that was the best I've ever seen you fly!" Enid exclaimed. Mildred smiled and hugged her friends. She was grateful the flying exam was over. Now she could focus her thoughts on the topics she had revised, and cheering on her friends.
Once the first years had all finished their flying exams, the weather miraculously changed from miserable to beautifully clear and sunny. The girls muttered in annoyance, looking at their teachers. "Trust HB to make our exam harder by performing a weather spell," said Ethel, just loud enough for the teachers to hear. "I'm just glad I already had experience flying in all weathers, unlike some people." She cast a cruel look at Mildred.
"Well actually girls, it was my idea to test you in adverse weather conditions," Pippa chimed in, approaching the group of disgruntled students. "At Pentangle's we ensure that our pupils can fly in all weathers, and I mentioned this to Miss Drill this morning. I must say, for those of you who have only had experience flying in fair weather, you did very well." She smiled at all of the girls, but avoided eye contact with Ethel. "High pent Felicity! I don't think I have ever seen such a fashionable flying style. I've no doubt that the Broomstick Magazine will be scouting you to model the latest broomstick couture some day in the future." Felicity beamed and gently tapped her hand against the glamorous witch's outstretched palm. Hecate raised her eyebrows at the display. Pippa continued "And Enid, I have never seen such a speedy completion of a broomstick course. Of course, your landing was a little... unusual, but I enjoyed watching your flight. High pent!" Enid rolled her eyes at the teacher's self named catchphrase, but nether-the-less found herself excited to high five the blonde witch. Hecate's eyebrows raised higher still at the frivolity, but her mouth upturned slightly. Pippa did make things more fun.
Pippa addressed the group as a whole. "If it were up to me, I would give you all full marks for your pointy work!" This was met by a loud huff from Hecate. "But of course, you will have a combination of the other teachers' marks too. Shall we make our way inside for your next exam?"
The first years filed into the dining hall. After the time stood outside in the cold wind, they were grateful for the warmth of the room. The long benches and dining tables had been replaced with individual exam tables and chairs. A blackboard with the words "Witch History", and the start and end time of the exam written in chalk was propped up at the front of the room. A large iron clock, the kind you would see in an olden times train station, levitated above it. It ominously started ticking down the seconds until the exam was to begin.
"Girls, your names are written on the desks, you may find your seats." said Miss Hardbroom, gesturing at the empty desks.
The girls fell silent and rushed to find their desks. The teachers took their positions as invigilators around the room.
"Now remember girls, everything in this paper has been covered in your lessons this year." Miss Bat said. The girls looked around the hall blankly, Miss Bat's advice was useful to exactly no one. "You may begin." she said.
Ethel almost tore the exam paper in half in her rush to begin. She mouthed the words she was writing as she furiously scribbled her answers down. Every day in her life had lead her to this moment, and she was desperate to pour the culmination of her knowledge out onto the page. She had to prove she was brighter than her older sister, Esmeralda.
Felicity opened the paper and pouted. The young witch had been so excited to see Miss Pentangle arrive at Cackle's for the week, she had only revised modern and cool witching. She flicked through the pages crestfallen, all of the questions covered boring elements of witching history.
Maud read through the entire paper first, planning out her time for each questions. She smiled to herself, witch history was easy, and she'd covered everything in the paper in her revision. She wondered how her friends were doing. In between questions she quickly glanced at them. Enid was chewing her pencil, deep in thought. Her brow was furrowed and she looked worried. Maud knew that Enid found witchory boring, but she hoped her friend had done enough to pass the exam.
Mildred stuck her tongue out in concentration. She tried to recall the classes she taught as Miss Darkside, and much to her surprise found she could remember many of the witch history topics covered in the paper. She had spent most of her revision energy on potions, but she'd made sure to flick through a witchory textbook over the week. After all, she needed to get over seventy percent in every exam to continue tutoring with Miss Hardbroom. She hoped that her answers would be enough to get such a good grade. One question in particular made her smile, it was a question about the artistic witches of the 20th century. Mildred remembered reading the chapter on their artwork and daydreaming longingly that she was secretly descended from them. She wrote a long and detailed answer about the Coven of Craftiness, and even included a sketch of the witches from memory.
The girls were so lost in concentration for the exam, they hardly noticed when Miss Bat called out that there were seven minutes left. However, when Miss Hardbroom's voice cut through the silence to notify them that the exam was over, the girls all jumped. "Time is up, first years." she announced. The exam papers disappeared from under the girls' pens. With a snap of Hecate's fingers, the exam desks turned back into dining tables. "You have an hour to eat your lunch, and then I expect to see you all in the potions laboratory for your potions examination. Latecomers will be given an automatic zero percent."
Pippa and Hecate chose to spend their lunchtime away from the throng of the dining hall. Instead, they decided to take a walk around the grounds of Cackle's.
"Your suggestion to change the weather to challenge the girls was a good one." Hecate told Pippa with admiration as they walked through the herb garden. She plucked a dead stem from a thyme plant and crumbled it between her fingers. "Perhaps Pentangle's students do learn something at your school."
Pippa pretended not to be offended by the second statement. She lifted a sprig of mint to her face and inhaled its refreshing scent deeply. "Yes, we like to produce students that are prepared for anything and everything at Pentangle's. That's why the curriculum is so broad. We want to give all of our students an equal start to life." she said proudly. "Although, the Great Wizard disapproves of my policy to accept and teach students from all backgrounds. Did you know that we offer several after school clubs too? We have a botany club-oh Hiccup! You would love it! We have Dahlia Meadow, a local expert. She's retired now, but I expect you've read her books. She comes in on a Tuesday evening and takes a group of students out into the woods to learn best potion ingredient collecting practice. Once a month she takes them out under the full moon to collect pond weed and moon water. At weekends she has them weeding the potion garden. After all, potion ingredients don't just grow on their own!" She gestured at chives, basil and parsley to illustrate her point.
Pippa gushed about the other various clubs on offer. She described the stargazing club, the cloak making club, the alchemy club, and the broomstick chanting choir. Hecate felt a pang of jealousy as her girlfriend described the extra curricular activities at her school. Cackle's was a non fee paying school, and as such didn't have the budget for such clubs. Instead the school relied on the limited resources that were freely available, and on teachers to volunteer their time. She could hardly imagine any students spending time tending to the academy's gardens with her unless it was in the form of a detention.
The two witches walked out of the herb garden and past a crab apple tree which, due to a misfired spell, happened to grow crabs instead of apples. "...and that's why I was so excited for you to come and give a lesson on potions my darling. We don't have anyone with your in depth knowledge of potions at Pentangle's. You will come back and actually deliver that class one day, Hiccup, won't you? I was desperately sad when you left in such a hurry last time."
Pippa's call back to the failed excursion away from Cackle's brought Hecate abruptly away from her thoughts. She shuddered with embarrassment at the memory. "I am sorry I ever doubted your intentions Pipsqueak. I would like that very much. Perhaps I could deliver a class after breakfast at Pentangle's?" Hecate said, suddenly reminded that it was lunch time. A wicked smile crossed her usually serious face, she checked the time on her pendant, there were still twenty minutes left of lunch. "Speaking of food, shall we pay a visit to the kitchens?"
"I thought you would never ask!" Pippa giggled. She stepped forward and took Hecate's hand. Together, the two witches transferred into the kitchens.
The kitchens were empty. Miss Tapioca was likely still dishing up soup in the dining hall, so the two witches took full advantage of the well stocked cupboards. Knowing they had used up most of the lunch hour strolling through the grounds, they opted to eat the easy option. Cake. They just had the small matter of finding it. Miss Tapioca was wise to the thieving ways of the students (and teachers), and had taken to hiding anything remotely edible.
Hecate cast out a simple detection spell, and found herself drawn to a toolbox on the windowsill above the sink. She opened the rusted lid and smiled. A freshly baked Victoria sponge was sitting in its glorious entirety inside, wrapped in parchment. She took the cake out, cut two generous slices, and handed one to Pippa. Pippa giggled with glee at the sight of the cake.
Hecate delicately picked at her slice, taking small bites and savouring the taste. Miss Tapioca was a terrible chef, but she was a wonderful baker. "I see nothing has changed since we were young witches, Pippa," she said, as Pippa took a large mouthful of cake and icing sugar cascaded down the front of her fuchsia dress. Hecate damped a washcloth under the tap and dabbed at the witch's dress. She revelled in the intimacy of the simple action while Pippa cut them each another slice of cake.
"How we didn't end up the size of trolls at school, I will never know." Pippa laughed, her mouth full. "I suppose we did have to walk everywhere in this castle. I forgot how many stairs there are."
Hecate laughed. A proper laugh. Something about Pippa made her feel like she could lose control a little bit. She put her arms around Pippa and pulled her in for a kiss. Pippa eagerly kissed her back, enjoying any opportunity to be with Hecate. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's neck, and with an elegant leap, wrapped her legs around Hecate's hips. The tall witch deftly caught her girlfriend and pushed her against the worktop, kissing her hungrily. Suddenly Pippa erupted into laughter, and Hecate sprung backwards disheartened. Surely she wasn't that bad at kissing?
Pippa continued laughing, Hecate's confused face made the matter all the more hilarious to her. In between gasps for air she managed to say "I'm not laughing at you, Hiccup. It's just that you pushed me into the cake. Look, I'm covered in jam and buttercream!" She stood up and showed Hecate her cake coated dress and legs.
Hecate's eyes widened and she pressed her lips together, embarrassed. "Pippa, I must apologise."
"It's okay, nothing a quick laundry spell won't fix. I was so enjoying kissing you my dear, and we have a few moments before lunch ends, why don't we pick up where we left off?"
Hecate didn't need to hear anything more to entice her back to her girlfriend's delicious lips. She pulled the still cake covered Pippa back towards her and kissed her with passion. Her hands wrapped themselves in the witch's golden hair, pulling her even closer.
As often seemed to be the case at Cackle's Academy, the witches didn't have long before they were again interrupted. This time, they were interrupted by the dull tones of the school's cook, returning to the kitchen. "If you two want to keep your relationship private, perhaps find somewhere other than my kitchen to snog in."
The canoodling witches jumped apart, startled. Hecate froze. Usually in contentious moments, she would stick out her chin and intimidate her opponent. However, Miss Tapioca had the upper hand here. Before Hecate could muster even the weakest of responses, Miss Tapioca cried out again in anger. "Is that my sponge cake all over the worktop? I was saving that for a special occasion."
Sheepishly, Pippa mumbled an apology and promised to replace the food they had taken. Keeping her cake covered backside pointed firmly away from the irritable chef, she grabbed Hecate's hand and dragged her out of the kitchen. As soon as the kitchen door was closed behind them, she burst out in giggles. "This really is exactly like when we were at school Hiccup."
Hecate smiled. "I suppose it is. Although, now we are the teachers, and should really know better than to steal cake. If one of my girls was caught stealing cake, they would not be leaving the kitchens laughing. Still, it has been nice to let loose with you." She hooked her arm around Pippa's waist, and immediately recoiled as her hand landed on a patch of icing. "We should really be at the potions laboratory by now. Will you allow me to vanish this cake? I don't suppose you ever learned the incantation to remove buttercream, did you?"
A/N - Thank you so much for your lovely comment Paula, it really made my day :)