A/N: Thank you for your patience, everyone. Here's Chapter 4!
In the black of the night, a tiny grumble was heard.
"Mummy?" A quiet voice asked. It was met with silence. Morgana snuggled closer to her mistress. "Mummy?" She whispered into her ear again.
"Hmm?" Constance answered drowsily.
"Mummy, my belly is making rumbly noises," Morgana whispered. "And I'm starving."
Constance rolled over, her eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness of her bedroom. After a minute she was able to make out the moon-lit figure of Morgana hovering over her. "I left you some food in your-oh." She looked down her nose at the tiny thing, "I suppose you can't eat cat food anymore can you?"
The little girl stuck out her tongue. "Yuck," she said, "I tried it. It doesn't taste the same with my girl tongue."
Constance sighed, "Very well, let's head off to the kitchens, then." She got out of bed, shaking her tangled hair into place. She changed into her robes with a flick of her wrist, and did the same for little Morgana. "Come along," Constance said, holding out her hand. The little girl took it graciously, an excited smile on her face.
The pair materialised to the dungeon kitchen. Morgana leapt up onto a chair effortlessly, and Constance began rummaging through the cupboard.
Morgana put her head in her hands. She smiled slowly, watching her mistress with glee.
"Is something amusing?" Constance asked casually, her face still in the cupboard.
Morgana quickly wiped the grin off her face. She'd forgotten that Constance practically had eyes in the back of her head. "Nothing, mummy." She said innocently.
Constance turned around to face her. "Nothing?" She asked, raising a brow.
Morgana bit her lip, but couldn't help the smile that was slowly crawling up her face.
"Go on. Tell me what's got you so entertained."
Morgana squirmed. "Do you remember the last time we came down here, mummy?" She asked mischievously.
Constance reddened. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."
"I'm sure you remember. We had so much fun." Morgana smiled broadly, her fangs glistening.
"Morgana..." Constance began in a warning tone.
"I'd never seen you eat so much chocolate in my life." The little girl giggled. "And we sneaked all those confiscated sweets back up to our room..."
Constance couldn't hold her frown of disapproval for too long. It really had been a thrill to act like a student again. She folded her arms and allowed herself to smile ever so slightly. "I still have a few left." She whispered.
"We should take some more tonight." Morgana purred happily.
"Didn't I tell you I wouldn't dare do it again?" Constance snapped, regaining her composure.
"Yes, mummy. You told me you had a moment of weakness." Morgana replied matter-of-factly.
Constance blushed and cleared her throat. "Yes, well. I believe I also asked you to forget it ever happened." She swallowed her remaining smirk and turned back to the cupboard. "We have juice, biscuits, and bread. What'll it be?"
"Hmm... I'll have juice, biscuits and bread then, I suppose. Are they tasty?" She asked, licking her lips.
Constance watched Morgana nibble each food interestedly, an intense look of concentration on her face. At one point a bit of juice dribbled onto the girl's chin and she wiped it away with her sleeve.
"Morgana," Constance scolded, "Your arm?"
"Sorry, mummy." Morgana said, taking the handkerchief that appeared in her mother's hand. She dabbed it on her chin and finished the last sip of her juice.
"Have you had enough to eat?"
"Yes, I feel quite full. Thank you, mummy." She said, leaping down from the chair and taking her mother's hand.
Constance closed her eyes and stood very still for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the tiny hand clasped in her own. She looked down at Morgana and felt a… strange sort of feeling she'd never felt before. She couldn't quite explain it to herself, but it was a good feeling, and she wanted to hold onto it for as long as she could. "Shall we go the long way?" She asked, beginning to walk to the staircase.
"Okay," Morgana answered happily, grasping her mother's hand more tightly.
Mildred rolled over for – what was it – the twentieth time that hour? Sleep evaded her; she couldn't get her thoughts off of poor little Morgana, trapped in a body that wasn't hers. And Ethel… Ethel would be so upset that she'd have to miss all those lessons. And Miss Hardbroom… she sat up suddenly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her bare feet freezing as they touched the cold stone floor. She didn't care if she'd get into trouble. She had to save Morgana.
Mildred tiptoed out of her room, quietly closing the door behind her with a soft click.
The pair was silent for the duration of their walk, but Constance's mind was loud with thoughts. Her heart swelled with pride – she wished she could go everywhere with the little thing parading at her side. Was this what it felt like to be a mother? She found herself wondering. A… mother? Her own voice asked her thoughts. Was that what she was now? Would that make this little girl her… daughter? Well, technically, if she had to go about giving everyone titles, she guessed those would be the most fitting. Mother. Daughter. But it wasn't real… she wasn't really a mother, was she? Well, why not? She was responsible for her own small person. She had to feed her and take care of her and… raise her. Yes, Constance decided, that definitely put her under the category of mother.
Even if it was… temporary.
Her eyes flicked to the girl again, who was still clutching her hand tightly, a wide smile on her innocent little face. It's temporary, Constance. She reminded herself. A few days from now this will be all but a memory. Her heart panged at the thought and she pushed it out of her mind. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
They came to the end of the corridor, to a bronze plaque bearing her name… Constance took a deep breath and pushed the door open, ready to retire for the night.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Her thoughts reminded her.
She wished it could last just a little bit longer.
As she turned another page in yet another book, Mildred's hand froze. What sounded like slow, quiet footsteps seemed to be approaching the door of the library.
"Who is that?" Mildred whispered, her heart thudding. "Miss Hardbroom, is that you? I'm so sorry!"
"No, Hubble Bubble, it's me." A young girl's voice sneered. Ethel Hallow stood silhouetted in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" Mildred whispered.
"I was going to ask you the same question." Ethel answered.
"I can't bear being responsible for all of this. I don't want you to have to miss any lessons tomorrow. I don't want Miss Hardbroom to be upset. I just want to figure this out." Mildred said, twirling her plait nervously.
"Well. I've decided to help you out, Mildred. You'll have a much easier time digesting all this information with a simple speed research spell." She said, holding up a book entitled, "Advanced Magical Memory Methods - Expert Edition"
"A simple what?!" Mildred shrieked, jumping to a stand and sending a few books tumbling from the table. "Ethel! You're going to use-?"
"Shh!" Ethel hissed, looking around the room. "Not so loud, Miss Hardbroom's going to hear you!"
"Ethel." Mildred said firmly, yet just above a whisper, "We are absolutely not using any sort of magic to get through this. We could get into serious trouble!"
"Correction: you're absolutely not using any sort of magic to get us through this. You most definitely could get us into serious trouble. Me, on the other hand..."
"Ethel you can't be serious!" Mildred hissed quietly. "Your magic is what got us here in the first place! And that book says 'advanced' and 'expert' on it!"
"But I did manage to do something complicated, didn't I? Miss Hardbroom said it was so advanced, even she wasn't sure about-"
"Yes but by ACCIDENT, Ethel! You didn't intend to perform advanced magic, it just happened because I moved. I could easily say I was the one that did it!"
"But you weren't. I was. Maybe it was an accident, but perhaps it shows my true potential. I'd say, Mildred Hubble, that perhaps you're a bit jealous."
"Jealous!" Mildred shouted incredulously. She shook her head in wonder, "you're actually serious about all this, aren't you?"
"Why wouldn't I be? Everyone knows how badly you want to get on Miss Hardbroom's good side, and I can't say I've exactly avoided that position. Now I offer to help you, and you turn me down because you can't bear to see me out-perform you once again?"
"Ethel this isn't anything like that! Trust me-"
"You know what? Fine. You're right. I don't need you upstaging me anyway." She folded her arms and took her place at her pile of books. "But I could definitely use some help..." She muttered under her breath. Why would she offer to make Mildred look good anyway? She should definitely use the spell on her own books, then Miss Hardbroom would have even more of a reason to be impressed with her and less-than-impressed with Hubble Bubble.
The room was silent again; the only sound from Constance's quiet breathing. Morgana squinted at the ceiling. Human eyes didn't work very well at night, she realised. She always wondered why her mother had to carry that cumbersome box of light with her when it was dark.
She suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed, her warning senses tingling. She turned to the sleeping woman, and began nudging her desperately.
"Mummy, wake up!" She whispered frantically into her ear. Constance came to quickly, her eyes snapping open to meet Morgana's yellow ones. "Something is wrong," Morgana said quietly, her eyes widening in alarm, "do you feel it, too?"
Constance sat upright in bed, shifting the girl's weight off her arm. She narrowed her eyes at the blackness before her. "Yes," she answered, "thank you."
Morgana watched as Constance folded her arms, and grabbed one arm to stop her. "Will you take me with you this time, mummy? I'm afraid," The girl whispered shakily.
"Afraid?" Constance asked as her eyebrows went up, "Afraid of what?"
"My girl eyes don't work like my cat eyes," she said nervously, "this dark is very black!"
Constance couldn't help the tiny smile that appeared on her face. "Come along then," she answered, folding her arms again, and pulling Morgana along with her as she disappeared.
Ethel looked at the book in front of her and took a deep breath as she opened the cover. On the first page "Constance Hardbroom" was scrawled in the teacher's familiar elegant handwriting. Her personal volume; Ethel drew in a shaky breath. The pages seemed to hold a power of their own - or was that perhaps her own power finding its way into her fingertips? She turned to the index and scanned its contents, arriving at the spell that would save her reputation.
Mildred resumed her reading, shaking her head in confusion. Could Ethel really be so naïve? Could she really possibly think that she'd be able to fix things so easily? She strained her ears worriedly as she heard what seemed like quiet muttering coming from behind Ethel's book stacks. Her heart rate quickened... was she really going to-?
ZAP! The crackle of magical force was so strong, the energy in the air made Mildred's hair stand on end. At the moment of the noise, every book on the table snapped open, and their pages began turning, as if a fan had been turned on them. Mildred jumped backward, nearly falling off her chair. "Ethel! What have you done?!"
Ethel smiled, "Oh, don't worry. I won't let Miss Hardbroom think you had anything to do with this. When I find the answer, she'll know that I finished mountains of books in my search. And you'll still have... those three."
Mildred glanced over and noticed her three completed books were the only ones not participating in the page-turning frenzy. She turned to the other books, watching certain words leap from the pages, and hover in midair. So far, she noticed "cat," "inadvertent," and "transformation," floating above her head. She had to admit, the spell was pretty impressive, but an uneasy feeling began to brew in the pit of her stomach.
As if on cue, another loud crackle sent the spell into overdrive.
All at once, books began flying off the shelves, chucking themselves onto the table, flinging themselves open, and violently rifling their pages. The force of the energies began to create a mini-whirlwind, the winds whipping up to a small gale, strong enough to begin to tear the pages from some of the volumes.
"Ethel, stop it!" Mildred screamed out, her plaits coming loose from the force of the gusts.
"I'm not doing anything!" Ethel yelled back over the roar of the winds, "I... I don't know what's happening!" She cried.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" A booming voice bellowed over the whistling gale. Constance and Morgana appeared in the center of the raging storm, their hair whipping about their faces wildly; they looked quite the imposing pair. Mildred shrunk back in fear, while Ethel took a step forward, clenching her fists.
"I'm afraid my spell got a bit out of hand, Miss Hardbroom," Ethel nearly shouted over the ruckus. She was confident that although they were out of bed past curfew, Miss Hardbroom would be so awestruck with the strength of such an advanced spell, that perhaps she'd forgive her. Or better yet, gawp in admiration and promote her to the fifth year.
Miss Hardbroom was not impressed, however. Not in the slightest. And in that moment, she finally saw Ethel Hallow for what she truly was – a haughty, irresponsible, immature young witch, that would need some serious refining.
Constance shook out her hand and prepared to perform a strong reversal spell. She began to gather her energies, focusing them into a cluster in her palm. Though she'd never admit it, Constance thoroughly enjoyed these moments – when a student would get into advanced magical trouble. She loved using her magic for something challenging - a challenge that matched her strengths and gave her the opportunity to actually put some effort into what she was doing. Constance pulled in a deep breath through her nose and prepared herself for the release – a moment of silence, and then – angry jets of bright blue light shot out from her fingertips, attacking the magical presence in the air until it had no choice but to wither out of existence. The room instantly went silent, a few stray papers fluttering slowly to the floor. Constance blew on the tips of her fingers for effect and folded her arms, a permanent scowl plastered on her face.
Ethel realised she wasn't going to get off as easily as she'd thought. "I can explain!" She shouted suddenly, trying to combat her deputy head's grave expression.
"Save it, Ethel." Constance growled. "No mincing of words could possibly salvage your reputation at this point." She spoke sharply, her words daggers in Ethel's morale. "You will both report to the staffroom at the first crack of dawn tomorrow morning. Until then, you will be in bed. And nowhere else. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Miss Hardbroom," they chorused.
She looked them over in silence for a moment, then flicked her wrist at the pair, sending each of them to their rooms.
"Don't we like Ethel, mummy?" A small voice spoke up. Constance nearly jumped in alarm, she'd forgotten that she'd brought the girl with her.
She hesitated, pondering the girl's words for a moment. Don't we like Ethel? We did… until we came to understand her true character… "The tables have turned, Morgana." Constance spoke softly. "Let's get to bed."
Not enough hours later, Constance awoke to the quiet, rhythmic breathing of a little girl. She startled for a moment until the previous day's happenings came to the front of her mind.
She somehow shifted herself away from the sleeping girl, carefully so as not to wake her.
She groggily clambered out of bed, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the first light of morning. Constance glanced back at Morgana, and found herself unable to look away. She stared for a minute - watched her chest rise and fall with each breath - and wondered what her life would be like if the spell couldn't be reversed... what it would be like to raise this sudden... daughter... of hers. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly as she imagined the little girl tagging along as she prowled the halls, and helping her gather ingredients at dawn. No, she corrected her selfish fantasy; this wasn't right. This girl was the result of tainted magic, and tainted magic had to be corrected.
She took one last look at the girl before retreating to her dressing table to get ready for the day.
Soon afterwards, Mildred and Ethel found themselves standing quietly outside of the staff room, waiting to be allowed in. They heard a lot of pacing, and what sounded like Miss Hardbroom's angry ranting. Suddenly, the door swung open violently, revealing a steaming mad Miss Hardbroom across the room, returning her spell casting fingers into the crook of her folded arms.
"Enter." She commanded them. Miss Cackle sat with steepled fingers, peering over her spectacles at the pair. It was her expression, rather than the deputy head's, that caused Mildred to hang her head in shame. Miss Cackle was severely disappointed.
"It has come to my attention that there was a… blatant disregard for my rules last night." Miss Cackle said slowly, her eyes on her desk. Miss Hardbroom's eyes flicked back and forth quickly between Ethel and Mildred; her nostrils flared. Miss Cackle looked up at the pair. "Wandering out of bed past curfew… entering the restricted section of the library…" at this Ethel reddened, "…Taking an advanced spell book—"
"My advanced spell book." Miss Hardbroom hissed.
"—and attempting to perform one of its spells?" Miss Cackle finished, disbelief written on her face.
Mildred stole a glance at Ethel and watched her hastily brush at her cheek. Were her eyes tearing, or was it a trick of the light?
Miss Cackle continued, "If it were up to your deputy head here, suffice it to say, the two of you would no longer be welcome here in Cackle's Academy." Mildred let out an involuntary gasp and momentarily locked eyes with Miss Hardbroom, who quickly looked away. "Luckily for you, it is I who has the final say in the matter." She let her words hang for a moment to study the girls' faces. "Your original punishment stands – you will continue your research throughout the day today, and continue tomorrow if you do not find what you are looking for." Mildred and Ethel nodded. "In addition, Mildred Hubble, you will write a 500 word essay on the importance of getting to bed at a decent hour?" Mildred nodded again. "And you, Ethel Hallow…" Miss Cackle gave the girl a hard glare – a rare sight from the usually cheery and friendly headmistress – "Miss Hardbroom has decided to deal with you herself. She says you've already disobeyed the last magical warning she gave you, and must deal quite strictly with you." Ethel glanced over at Miss Hardbroom, who was staring intently at Miss Cackle. "Mildred, you may leave. Please go straight to the library and continue where you left off last night."
"Yes, Miss Cackle. Thank you, Miss Cackle." Mildred replied meekly, and quickly hurried out of the room, not wanting to witness Ethel's sentencing.
The room was thick with tension – angry sparks leapt from Miss Hardbroom's fingertips – and Miss Cackle sported a deep scowl. The ticking of the clock mocked the young criminal as it calmly continued its circle, the only object in the room daring to make a noise. Ethel had never noticed it before, but a minute was an awfully long time. After several more of them spent in agonising silence, Miss Hardbroom finally spoke.
"Ethel Hallow," Miss Hardbroom said her name slowly, encircling the girl like a vulture circles its prey. "You have made a very grave mistake."
A/N: I somehow find myself feeling kinda sorry for Ethel! (But only a bit ;)) Hope it's not too much of a cliffhanger… we'll hopefully get to see more of Morgana in 5. Please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! ^_^