Chapter 13
"Bats! I attacked her with a flock of bats!" Constance exclaimed
Gwendoline Fairwind looked up from her marking in alarm as the slightly dishevelled and out of breath figure of Constance Hardbroom appeared through her office door, letting the door swing open with an uncharacteristic crash.
Constance had no idea where she was going when she fled Mistress Broomhead's classroom, but her feet had done their own bidding and led her here to Miss Fairwind's office. Tucked away under the spiralled staircase to the east tower, Miss Fairwind's office was the smallest in the college. Her door was labelled, not with a gleaming bronze plaque like the other faculty, but with a simple wooden sign, neatly carved with her name. When the young tutor had begun her doctoral studies three years earlier, there had been no office available. She had stumbled across the crowded and disused store cupboard quite by accident and one weekend, with the help of one of the young caretakers who assisted the college estate manager, had turned it into a humble but secluded office. The wooden plaque on the door had been his office warming present to her and made her smile each time she entered the room. Her desk and bookshelves had both been cast offs from the library. The desk' surface was etched with the names of dozens of previous students who had left their mark while studying. The bookshelves had both buckled with the years and strain of holding heavy reference books so that the shelves all sloped in different directions causing Miss Fairwind's books to bunch at either end. In the corner was a winged chair which had been rejected from the Faculty Common Room when the stuffing had started to burst through the seat but the deep plum-coloured velvet shawl draped over it hid the worst of the tears. The east facing window gave her light in the morning and evening when she most needed it. There was a mobile hung in the corner of the room above her desk made of sea worn pieces of glass, shell and pebble which she had collected on her weekend walks down to the beach – around six miles from the college on foot. The low spring light from the window shone on it casting dancing shadows on the sloped ceiling.
"Constance" she soothed "What is it? Try to calm down and tell me again"
Constance took a deep breath and once she had regained some of her usual calm composure she began to recount the whole story. When she had finished there was a moments silence, Miss Fairwind's eyes had widened with surprise. The corners of her mouth were twitching slightly in amusement but she composed herself as she saw Constance's genuine worry.
"If she enchanted the plant the bats are probably imbued with her magic along with yours. That probably explains why the bats were so vicious…oh but don't worry" Miss Fairwind said as she saw Constance raise her eyebrows in alarm "they'll have more of you in them than her so they won't have done her any serious harm. They'll be a powerful mix of magic though; she probably won't be able to get rid of them without your help"
"What should I do?" Constance asked
"Oh, well why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea with me?"
"How will that help?" Constance asked exasperatedly
"It's camomile, very soothing in these situations."
"But what about the bats?" Constance snapped, her temper fraying
"Listen Constance" said Miss Fairwind "you are stronger than I was. I knew it the moment you produced that vine in your first year potions exam. She hasn't managed to crush you the way she did with me. No, listen" she held up her hand as Constance opened her mouth to contradict her before gesturing to the mobile hanging above their heads "Mistress Broomhead controls people; she is as relentless as the sea on these bits of glass and pebbles. Wearing them down day by day until they are the shape they're supposed to be. But then there's you, with your vines and your flock of bats and those two friends of yours. I never managed to keep any friends, you know. You have to take control in small ways. She wants you to be panicked and fearful of what she will do next, and I am sure you are. It is what she has trained us to be. But what you can also do is sit down in this office – an office she didn't want me to have, I might add – and drink this cup of tea with me. Just for twenty minutes, let's not be Mistress Broomhead's pupils. Let's just be Gwendoline and Constance"
Constance allowed herself to be steered into the winged chair as a cup of tea magically appeared between her clasped hands.
"Gwendoline" Constance repeated "that's a pretty name"
"Thank you" Miss Fairwind replied, settling back into her own chair and taking a sip of her tea "Now, tell me Constance, what kind of things to do you like to read…"