Chapter 15
"I presume you have done as I told you?" Mistress Broomhead asked from where she was seated, glaring at Constance as she stood before the imposing desk.
"I have, Mistress Broomhead" Constance replied, trying to keep her mind blank as Mistress Broomhead's gazed seared into hers.
"We shall soon see" Mistress Broomhead replied, folding her arms and disappearing from where she was sat, presumably to check the state of her classroom.
Constance stood alone among the dark furniture and thick leather books. The air was heavy with the weight of magic and the large clock on the desk ticked relentlessly as she tensely awaited her tutor's return. Less than five minutes passed before Mistress Broomhead reappeared and resumed her seat.
"Very well" she said with a grim nod.
Constance gave an inward sigh of relief that her removal of the bats had gone undetected.
"If you ever perform such a spell against me in my classroom or anywhere else again, I will see to it that your magic is removed for the entirety of the Summer" Mistress Broomhead snapped in her low dangerous tone "Is that clear, Constance?"
"Yes, Mistress Broomhead" Constance replied softly
"And just to ensure that you keep your promise…" Mistress Broomhead made a quick upward gesture with her hands and the office was suddenly filled with a low mewling sound as a square silver cage appeared on her desk, inside which a black cat was pacing up and down in distress
"Morgana!" Constance cried
She started forward towards the desk, reaching out to her cat. But as her fingertips brushed the slim silver bars, they sparked a brilliant white – shooting a jolt of electricity through Constance's hand which caused her to recoil in pain.
"Providing there are no more little performances like the one today, she will be returned to you once the exams are over"
"But they're weeks away!" Constance exclaimed, unable to bite back the words as she glared hotly at her tutor, tears threatening in the corners of her eyes.
"Enough time for the message to sink in I think" Mistress Broomhead replied "Which leads me to my next point, this wilfulness will stop, Constance. I have not tolerated it before and certainly do not intend to allow it to continue. The dean tells me you have not yet replied to accept the college's offer to continue to the fourth year. You will do so before the week is out, is that understood?"
Constance made no reply, staring resolutely at the ground near her feet and causing Mistress Broomhead to narrow her eyes threateningly
"Don't think I don't know all about your plans with those two friends of yours." she said causing Constance's head to jerk up to look at her in alarmed surprise "Oh, I know you have tried to conceal if from me, and I must say your effort to deceive may have succeeded if it hadn't been for your friend Celeste LeFey. Daydreamers are so easy to read you see; she sits there in my classroom like an open book. Her thoughts practically pour out like water. You will apply yourself to your studies much better next year when the two of them are gone. But it would be such a shame if after all their hard work they were to leave here with a failed exam"
"What do you mean?" Constance asked sharply
"I have told you countless times that potion making is a precise art. It is not like chanting, where you can just make a nice noise until it feels right. Potion making requires discipline and precision which of course makes it so easy for a potions exam to go wrong. An unseen extra ingredient slipped into the cauldron, a little too much heat, or a few extra minutes passing by unnoticed and a complex potion can be ruined. And imagine how disappointed they would be when they realise they've not only failed the final exam but that their dear friend Constance is the one that sabotaged their potion"
"What?" Constance replied in a quavering voice "No, they'd never believe that I'd do something like that"
"I can make it happen Constance. You are not the only one capable of deception. Just think how I convinced the dean that you wished to remain at the college indefinitely. Two undergraduates will be so easy to convince after a powerful witch like the dean."
"You can't, you wouldn't!" Constance pleaded
"I will, unless you do exactly as I have told you. So, tomorrow you will send a polite and grateful note to the dean accepting her offer to continue next year and you will tell your friends of your decision." Mistress Broomhead ordered with a grim smile. "Do that and your friends' potion exam will continue as normal? Do we have a deal, Constance?"
"Yes" Constance whispered
"You may leave" Mistress Broomhead opened her office door with a minute flick of her wrist.
Constance took one final glance at Morgana, who had curled up in the corner of her silver cage, her golden yellow eyes gazing at Constance longingly, before leaving the office. Constance felt physically shaken as she walked away down the corridor and she was halfway to her room before she remembered the bats.
She made her way back to the empty first floor, casting a cautious glance into Mistress Broomhead's classroom as she passed before slipping into the cupboard and retrieving the box. She climbed up the stairs to the top of the East Tower. The uppermost floor was an attic, where the students could store large luggage and other bulky items during term time. Constance cautiously wended her way through the various boxes and cases, being careful not to jolt the box in her arms. She reached the arched tower window and threw it open to the night sky before releasing the magical seal on the box.
Just an hour earlier, she had imagined how this victory would feel; this symbol of her rebellion swooping out into the night sky. But as the bats flapped their way free of the box, the victory felt hollow. She stood and watched as the half a dozen bats flew out into the night sky, disappearing until they were nothing more than black specks on the fading twilight. Constance had never felt so alone.