A/N: Thank you SO much for all of your lovely reviews. You've definitely motivated me to post this update relatively quickly. Well, here it is! I have bits of the next chapter written already, but please let me know what you think of this one... :)
"Well. That was an interesting assembly for a change." Enid mused as the girls filed out of the great hall.
"Did you see how Miss Hardbroom called her cat over?" Ruby asked.
"Now that was impressive," Jadu nodded.
"Extreme!" Maud enthused.
"Shame about what happened to Mildred..." Ruby said, sighing.
Maud shook her head. "HB does always pick on her, doesn't she?" She said.
"Yeah - and come to think of it, why didn't Ethel ever come back?" Enid turned around to ask the group, raising an eyebrow.
"You're right..." Maud said, puzzled, "She was supposed to get that training session. It's not like Ethel to let Miss Hardbroom down like that..."
The girls agreed, nodding. Enid narrowed her eyes, "Which leads me to believe that something is going on," she said in a low voice, "And I'm set on finding out what it is."
"What are you lot up to, whispering in the corridors?" Drusilla said icily, folding her arms.
"None of your business, Drabsilla." Enid replied cheekily. "What might you be up to, wandering about on your own? Where's your precious Ethel at?"
"What I'm up to is none of your business," Drusilla replied, "And Ethel and I are not attached at the hip - I actually have no idea where she is," She added, her tone softening. "I was wondering if any of you have seen her."
The girls looked at each other. "Erm, no... I haven't," Ruby said.
"Neither have I," Jadu added.
Enid realised Drusilla's question was genuine. "I haven't either," She looked around, then leaned in closer, lowering her voice: "But we think something may have happened."
Drusilla cocked her head at the girl with the side-plait. "What do you mean?"
"There's no sign of Ethel, and Mildred still hasn't come down from her room yet." Ruby answered.
"Mildred's not in her room…" Drusilla said. The group looked at her suspiciously. "I mean, I passed by her room when I was looking for Ethel. Her door was open and no one was in there."
The girls all looked at Drusilla, the same question on their minds.
"You can't blame Ethel, though." Drusilla spoke up defensively. "Whatever's going on, I'm sure it really isn't her…"
"It really is her, miss." Mildred insisted for the third time.
"What do you take me for, girls, a complete fool?!" Miss Hardbroom's voice thundered. "You should be ashamed of the ridiculous tale which you have just fabricated. Why would Ethel's girl-to-cat spell – which I am still not even sure she actually had the audacity to cast – cause Morgana to go from cat-to-girl? Which is really something quite complicated and much more advanced than the former?"
"I- I really don't know Miss Hard-" Mildred began.
"Ethel," Miss Hardbroom interrupted, "Cat got your tongue?" She droned, rolling her eyes at her own stale joke. "Speak, girl!" She ordered.
Ethel, who had remained painfully silent until now, turned a deep shade of red. "I... I..."
"Spit it out!"
Ethel took a deep breath and plunged forward. "It's true, Miss Hardbroom," She confessed, hanging her head. Constance's eyes grew wide. "I did cast the spell... and it hit Morgana. And she turned into… that." She said, gesturing to the girl who was now sitting curled at Miss Hardbroom's feet.
Constance gaped, incredulous. She knelt down beside the girl until they met eye-to-eye. They remained locked in a stare for what seemed like an eternity, with Mildred and Ethel barely daring to breathe as they looked on. Finally, Constance broke her gaze and glanced up at Ethel.
"I am still not entirely convinced, though your story does seem plausible… and I have no other explanation for this stowaway..." She said, her eyes traveling back to the girl. "Ethel, have you tried to reverse the spell?" She asked.
"Sort of, Miss. I'm, erm... not sure how to."
"I see," Miss Hardbroom growled, frustrated. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, muttering something quietly. Her fingers began to crackle with blue sparks. Opening her eyes, she brought her spell-casting fingers to the girl's temples. She concentrated hard, furrowing her brow, and released her spell into the girl's head, who went very still, and then sneezed. Nothing seemed to change. "What on earth...?" Miss Hardbroom wondered under her breath.
"Is something wrong, Miss?" Mildred asked.
"Aside from the fact that my cat just sneezed, Mildred?" Miss Hardbroom looked up at the ceiling, exasperated. "I can't remove the spell." She admitted as she rose to her full, intimidating height, Morgana sitting in her arms. "It seems, Ethel Hallow, that your curse had a reverse effect, because it hit the exact animal you envisioned for its result - something that is a rare and complicated occurrence. However, although the outcome was not intended, the original intention was based in on tainted magic. In short, to turn her back will be no simple feat. This is my theory - I've actually never seen anything like this before - and I'm not quite sure how to proceed. For that reason, I am placing you in solitary confinement - in the library - until you can find her a way out of this mess," Miss Hardbroom seethed, her mood black.
"Yes, Miss Hardbroom." Ethel replied dejectedly, glancing up at the girl, who began to nuzzle into the tall witch's chest, purring softly.
"You will also hand in five hundred lines of 'I must not attempt to perform advanced magic against people or animals, as I am'-" Ethel opened her mouth to interrupt, causing Constance to glare at her fiercely, holding up her casting fingers in an attempt to silence her, "...'As I am clearly not as capable and advanced as I thought I was.'" Constance finished sternly, with a quick wave of her hand, and Ethel paled severely, her lip quivering.
"As for you, Mildred..." Miss Hardbroom began, but stopped as Mildred raised her hand. "Yes, Mildred?" She sung impatiently.
"Please Miss, I'd like to help Ethel do her research in the library." Mildred said, pityingly eying Ethel shrinking beside her. Miss Hardbroom stared at her. "I was there when it happened, perhaps I can be a good resource," she added.
"How courteous of you, Mildred." Miss Hardbroom said monotonously. "Your research begins after your last class today, girls... if you still haven't found anything by lights out tonight, you'll resume your work first thing in the morning. Do I make myself clear?" She bellowed.
"Yes Miss Hardbroom," they chorused, and Constance and Morgana disappeared.
Ethel stood silently, white as a sheet, barely breathing. She was overwhelmed by a strong desire to vomit... to scream and cry... to bang her fists on her pillow and kick her feet like a baby. But she stood still, too ashamed to move, to even dare a glance at her archenemy standing beside her, who had seen it all firsthand. Everything she had worked for, all of the perfection she had strived to attain, was for naught. Miss Hardbroom had reduced her to a despicable nobody in a matter of seconds, all under Mildred's nauseatingly pitiful eye. She didn't want Mildred's pity! Of all people - the girl was a pity herself.
"I won't tell anyone what she said." Mildred whispered, the sudden noise interrupting Ethel's thoughts and making her jump. She turned to face the stupid girl with the frizzy plaits, and pondered, if only for a moment, if perhaps the girl wasn't as stupid as she seemed to be.
"Thank you," Ethel croaked out in a hoarse whisper. "Why do you want to help me, anyway?" She spoke in a soft tone that was half-haughty, yet half-curious.
"It's partially my fault, this whole thing," Mildred said, "If I had hadn't moved out of the way, your spell wouldn'tve hit Morgana."
Despite her reluctance to admit a fault, Ethel knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how ridiculous that had sounded – and that Mildred was not to blame. The girl was always assuming everything was her problem. That somehow, she was the cause of the world's misfortunes. Ethel let out a sigh.
"We'll figure it out," Mildred assured her, "I'm sure it'll be simple."
Ethel folded her arms, "Right. Simple." She looked down as warm fur brushed against her leg - Nightstar snuggled against her mistress, trying to offer some comfort as well. She took a deep breath. "Let's get down to Potions fast. I wouldn't want to upset Miss Hardbroom any further."
Constance appeared with Morgana in her bedroom, putting the girl down hastily. She looked down at the little thing, who looked right back up at her mistress, yellow eyes wide with wonder.
"You'll stay here in my room until after lessons, when I will come and fetch you again," she said, mechanically, unsure of how to communicate with the thing.
"Yes, mummy." Morgana answered dutifully, hugging the woman's leg and jumping onto the bed, curling into her usual position at the foot of it. "My room," She said, purring contentedly.
Constance still wasn't convinced. Part of her just could not accept that this tiny girl was her Morgana. She stared at the little thing perched upon the foot of her bed, pondering so many thoughts that she grew distant. Her blank face flitted through tiny hints of various emotions. All the while, the girl stared right back, not even blinking, waiting for the woman to make the next move. Shaking her head, Constance finally snapped out of her musings. She sighed heavily and made her way out of the room, taking one last glance at the stranger on her bed, and closed the door softly behind her.
Mildred and Ethel made it to the lab relatively quickly, though the classroom was pretty full already. Girls buzzed in excited chatter as the pair walked in.
"Milly! Ethel! You two are the talk of the school!" Ruby shouted.
"Everyone's spreading rumours about what happened—" Maud said.
"Some of them pretty nasty," Enid put in.
"But tell us what really happened!" Jadu begged.
"Well…" Mildred eyed Ethel out of the corner of her eye. "We kind of got into a bit of a spat…" Ethel looked down at the ground, would the brat really go and embarrass her now? "There was a spell… it… it hit Morgana." The girls gasped, the chatter in the room quieting down to a low hum. Ethel eyed Mildred appreciatively. She hadn't given her away after all.
"Is she okay?" Ruby asked, grimacing.
"Well… I guess it depends on how you define 'okay'…"
"She's turned into a little girl." Ethel piped up, not wanting to seem the guiltily silent party. More gasps were heard all around as the room fell completely silent.
"A little girl?!" Enid exclaimed, her eyebrows going up. "HB's cat? Really?"
"Was she angry?" Drusilla asked them. "HB I mean?"
"Angry? I've never seen her so furious in my life," Mildred said, glancing at Ethel. Ethel nodded in return. "We have to spend the rest of the day researching a reversal spell in the library as punishment for our crime."
"And if we don't figure it out by tonight, Miss Hardbroom says we'll have to continue tomorrow." Ethel added, folding her arms. She tried to push her innocence a bit further— "Honestly, I think she's blowing this whole thing a bit out of proportion."
"Do you not find yourself in enough hot water as it is, Ethel Hallow?" Miss Hardbroom's harsh, clipped tones were heard shortly before she appeared in the room, arms folded tightly across her chest, brow furrowed in frustration. Everyone stood up silently, anxious to see how their form mistress would react to the situation.
"S-sorry, Miss Hardbroom." Ethel managed to whisper.
She was met by a fierce glare in return. "One word from any of you and you will all be severely punished!" She shouted angrily, fire burning in her eyes. The class stared back in silence, eyes wide, some afraid to breathe.
Maud's jaw dropped - this was extremely harsh. She looked at Mildred, who looked back at her, knowingly.
Miss Hardbroom was clearly not happy.
Ethel found herself seated in the back of the room in Chanting class, the last period of the day. She sat hunched over, head in her hands, listening to two girls belt out the most horrid sounds she'd ever heard. But, somehow, the music was bliss compared to what loomed over her - the punishment that was to come next. She still felt sick to her stomach at the thought of the day's happenings, and at the thought of having to spend the night with whingy Mildred and a bunch of old, smelly books.
The day seemed to tick by more slowly than ever before, but Mildred was okay with that. She knew she'd done the right thing to volunteer to help Ethel, but she couldn't help feeling a bit of regret as she listened to her friends plan their night.
"I've got something new I've been working on stashed away in my cupboard," Ruby whispered to the group. "It plays music, has lights that flash to the beat… and can cook up some microwave popcorn at the same time!" The girls ooh-ed and ahh-ed.
"Sounds like a party tonight," Enid whispered back, happily. Mildred let out an unintentional sigh. The group turned to her sympathetically.
"Sorry, Mildred." Maud offered, "We can try it out a different night. We'll wait for you and Ethel to finish…" Enid's face fell, but Mildred shook her head.
"No, no… you guys have fun." She replied, and Enid was suddenly happier again, "I wouldn't want to spoil it. And I can always try it out another time." She said, trying to hide her disappointment.
"Oh, Milly—" Maud began, but was cut off by the clanging of the bell, signaling the end of the period.
"Class dismissed!" Miss Bat sang, flying out of the room happily. Everyone jumped up, relieved, chattering away. Everyone, that is, except for Mildred and Ethel, who wished they could remain glued to the seats they were in, or better yet - disappear entirely. Maud slowly shuffled out of the room to follow her group, throwing an apologetic glance over her shoulder at her best friend. Mildred returned an appreciative small smile.
Miss Hardbroom wasted no time, appearing before Ethel and Mildred with folded arms and narrowed eyes. "I believe your punishment has begun." She said to the girls, who eyed each other nervously. "Follow me."
After dropping off the guilty parties at the library, Constance collected Morgana and materialised to the staff room. No one noticed the little addition to the witch's arrival at first, but to Constance's dismay, it didn't take long.
"Hellooo!" Miss Bat squealed in delight, eyeing the adorable thing peeking out from behind the foreboding witch. Imogen and Amelia turned to see the cause of her outburst, smiling at the sight.
"And who might you be?" Imogen cooed playfully, crouching down next to the girl. Constance instinctively stepped between them, shielding Morgana with her arm, spell-casting fingers extended protectively. Imogen staggered backwards.
"She might be Morgana." Constance answered, rolling her eyes.
"Morgana…" Imogen said slowly, pondering, as if she'd heard the name somewhere before. Then, it dawned on her.
"Do you mean…?" Amelia started, and Constance gave a swift nod of her head, launching into a retelling of the day's earlier occurrences.
The room was silent as the staff digested the story Constance had told them. Then all at once, the three women burst out into laughter, Miss Cackle in particular roaring loudly.
"Wow, Constance," Miss Bat gushed, catching her breath, "who knew you were such a fabulous storyteller?"
"I am not telling tall tales, Miss Bat. I have never been more serious about anything. This girl is my cat."
At this the three women laughed harder, falling over each other giddily, tears streaming from their eyes. Morgana couldn't help but giggle as well. "Fantastic story, so creative!" Miss Bat shrieked.
Constance folded her arms angrily and Amelia took notice.
"Okay, okay, Constance." Miss Cackle started, calming down, "So you say that this girl is your-" she snorted and cleared her throat, "your cat."
"I know it's hard to believe, Miss Cackle." Constance said, rolling her eyes at the sniggers coming from the rest of the audience.
"No, no... it's... hmm..." Miss Cackle took another deep breath and swallowed the last laugh threatening to burst from her mouth. She turned to face the girl. "Hello, Morgana," she said slowly, approaching her, "I. Am. Miss. Cackle." She enunciated loudly.
"Yes, of course I know you, Miss Cackle" the little girl replied quickly, "Sometimes I see you sneak pudding from the kitchens in the middle of the night."
Imogen and Davina burst out into another fit of hysterics, while Miss Cackle turned positively red, and Miss Hardbroom raised an eyebrow, slightly amused.
"Great story! Good show!" Laughed Davina. "Can you save some for me, headmistress?" Imogen chortled.
"There's no need for that, Miss Drill." Morgana said suddenly, and Miss Drill's laughter stopped short. "When that man climbed through your window the other night, he promised he'd bring you a treat."
Davina burst out into harder hysterics. "What a story!" She cried. Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom turned to look at Imogen, who let out a tiny squeak as her face drained of all colour.
"You were right, mummy. Miss Bat does laugh like a—" Davina let out a tiny "eep" as Constance clapped her hand over Morgana's mouth and the rest of her sentence was muffled. "That's enough, Morgana, thank you." She muttered, glaring at the girl.
The women stood silently, deflated, each one redder than the last. The tension in the room was tangible as each woman wondered how such a tiny ball of cuteness could embarrass them to such an extreme degree.
Constance removed her hand from the girl's mouth, dropping it to her shoulder instead. Her eyes darted about the room as she struggled to find something to say; she could think of nothing, and promptly disappeared, cat in tow.
"That," Davina squeaked quietly, "Was a terrible story."
A/N: Well, what do you think? We'll hopefully get to see a lot more of Morgana in the next chapter. :) Please post a review, they mean the world to me, and help me figure out what you'd like to happen next.
Thank you!