Alicia Thunderblast arrived early the next morning.

"Constance."

"Alicia."

The two witches clasped hands, faces set in the same grim expression.

"I searched Broomhead's room, I didn't find anything useful except these." She pulled out a black velvet bag with soft clicking sounds coming from its contents. Alicia gingerly reached in and pulled out a silver bracelet, making Constance instinctively recoil.

"I've managed to deconstruct the charm she placed on them, quite ingenious and quite simple. They're layered with tracking spells, and an infinite burning potion. The potion was made specially with.."

Alicia trailed off catching Constance's pained expression.

"Ah well, I digress. Marigold Spinnet and Ravenna Fairweather are here. They, and several other council members, have voted against Broomhead returning to her position, so even if she doesn't come here, she'll have no place left at Weirdsister. The Grand Wizard is also coming to arrest her whenever she appears."

Constance felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. It finally felt like things were starting to lay into place, whereas yesterday they felt impossible.

"Professor Thunderblast!"

Mildred had just entered the front hall when she caught sight of Alicia.

"Mildred! You look wonderful!"

Constance watched as Alicia grasped Mildred's smiling face between her hands, feeling slightly jealous at how comfortable their interaction seemed to be. Constance gave Mildred a look with a critical eye, what Alicia had said rang true. Some of Mildred's colour was coming back, and it had been Ms. Tapioca's personal mission to put weight back on the girl's thin frame.

Alicia had Mildred by the shoulders looking her up and down. "Hmm well you could do with a haircut, I don't think it has been cut with much care over the past few years."

Constance, who was standing behind Mildred, saw the girl clenching her fists, nails biting into the skin. She gently extricated Mildred from Alicia's grasp, and to her surprise, didn't feel Mildred immediately pull away. Moments later, Marigold Spinnet and Ravenna Fairweather arrived, giving solemn greetings to Constance and Alicia. Constance was glad to see them. Watching the two witches interact with Alicia, she could feel the power radiating off of them in waves that almost made her eyes water.

Marigold turned her large gold owlish eyes towards Mildred and Constance.

"Constance, the first order of business would be, on the behalf of the council, to apologize to you. And this young lady as well. For many years we have been blinded by the powerful witches Broomhead successfully churned out."

Ravenna also stepped forward, taking over Marigold's wispy voice with her rough aged one.

"We now recognise that she was just picking and choosing witches with the most power, not necessarily creating and shaping their inherent abilities."

Constance nodded stiffly, not trusting her voice.

Marigold fished a thick folder out of her travel bags with the words 'Mildred Hubble' scrawled across in spiky black writing. Constance instantly saw a wispy line of magic leaking out, gravitating towards Mildred and trying to mix with her colourful magic aura.

"My drawings!" Though Mildred couldn't see the magic like Constance, she had clearly felt the pull as soon as the folder was within her sight.

"They were stuffed in a cabinet along with other magical paraphernalia from past students. Interestingly, she tried to copy some of your drawings, which is probably why she had you drawing simple items."

Mildred took the drawings with shaking hands, Constance watched with astonishment as the drawings leapt off the page. The amount of magic swirling around Mildred made her glow, levitating her off the ground slightly.

Mildred's feet landed on the ground and she wobbled slightly, causing Constance to automatically reach out and steady the her while the older witches looked on in concern.

"Are you alright girl?" Ravenna's bottle cap glasses had slid to the end of her nose, her eyes wide staring at Mildred.

"Yes.. I actually haven't felt this put together since, well, a long time!"

Constance knew the answer before Mildred had even responded. Where Mildred's face had been pale before, the return of her magic brought back the old colour into her face. Her hair even seemed to be shinier and her eyes contained Mildred's old spark. Constance felt a tightness around her throat when she realised the last time she had seen Mildred looking like this was when she waved at her through the gate on her last day at Cackles.

Mildred turned toward her old teacher and Constance felt the full force of Mildred's old smile.

"You were right about Broomhead keeping my magic! I feel like some hole inside of me has been stitched up."

Constance allowed a small smile to break through.

"I'm glad Mildred."

She reached out hesitantly to pat Mildred on the shoulder, but the girl lunged forward to wrap Constance on a hug instead. Stunned, Constance tentatively returned the embrace, making eye contact with the older witches who were suspiciously misty eyed.

The moment was interrupted by an ashen faced and out of breath Amelia running down the castle steps.

"She's here! Broomhead just brought down the outer wards, she's heading up the forest path now."

Marigold, Rowenna, and Alicia glanced at each other with alarm.

"It's too early, the Grand Wizard isn't here yet. We need back up, none of us are versed in the dark arts and who knows what magical artifacts she may have brought with her." Marigold's voice had become high and stringy, her golden eyes wide with barely concealed panic.

The witches remained silent for a moment, before Mildred whipped around to run up the stairwell.

Constance began thinking fast.

"Amelia, go to your office and get the Mytheocopia. I have a feeling we may need some of the spells in there." Amelia blanched, but turned toward the direction that Mildred just disappeared to.

"Rowenna, Marigold, and Alicia, I need you to defend the castle. There are plenty of old magics for you to draw from woven into the walls of Cackles. Pull up wards around the castle building and tie them to that magic. It should take her longer to break through that."

The three nodded, and Constance could feel their magic bubbling to the surface.

"Wait, where are you going Constance?"

Constance smiled at Alicia.

"I learned a long time ago that when Mildred makes that face, it means she has a plan."

HOPEFULLY the next chapter will be quicker. I'm on a break from school right now so I'm going to try and get some more writing done. Thanks for sticking with me and this story!