"I'm just not sure about you continuing to go to that school." Velma and Madelyn's father stated.
Velma and Madelyn had returned home for the week of Spring Break to spend some time with her parents. To their shock, Madelyn had revealed the story about being kidnapped out of Velma's class by Merlin and tied up for two days.
"Dad, it's perfectly safe, I promise." Madelyn assured. "Velma and our headmaster, Whirlen, are taking precautions to make sure it will never happen again. Besides, Merlin's gone. Velma knocked him against that brick wall and it fell on him. There shouldn't be any trouble with him again."
"I agree with Dale. I don't know how I feel about this either." Velma's mother replied. "What precautions exactly are being taken?"
"I was wondering that too, Angie." Dale responded to his wife.
That would be a tricky one. Velma didn't know of any precautions that were being taken, given Merlin was a magical being, and if he wasn't crushed or defeated in the rubble of the wall that crumbled over him, there wasn't any simple solution that could defeat him.
"Well, if Merlin's not actually gone, Velma was able to pretty easily defeat him with the power of surprise." Madelyn convinced. "He must not be that powerful of a wizard."
"You're really convinced he's gone?" Angie answered with a look of concern.
"We are." Velma said. Another promise Velma wasn't sure she would be able to keep, since nobody really knew for sure what happened to Merlin.
"Okay." Dale didn't sound so convinced. "I'll be calling your headmaster, Whirlen, to discuss this further with him before I let you go back to that school."
"Sounds great to me!" Madelyn responded. "Thanks, daddy!"
"Of course, darling." Dale responded. "I hope you know that I just want you to be safe."
"I know." Madelyn nodded.
"Would Whirlen be around at this hour over break?" Angie asked.
"Yeah, he lives at the school." Velma answered.
"Excellent, then I'll call him now." Dale said, rushing over to the phone.
"I hope Whirlen can convince him that it's safe. I love that school, and I'd be sad having to transfer somewhere else." Madelyn told Velma.
"I hope so too, sis." Velma responded.
After about 15 minutes, Dale returned over to sit on the couch next to Madelyn and Velma.
"Well, I've talked to Whirlen." Dale began. Velma could sense a hint of feeling troubled in his voice, so this might not be good news for Madelyn. Although her parents couldn't do anything to prevent Velma from teaching there, she wondered if they would be disapproving if Whirlen hadn't been able to convince them that it was safe for Madelyn to continue attending the school.
"What'd he say?" Madelyn eagerly questioned.
"It seems like safety is very much his top priority. He informed the police of your kidnapping, and he assured me that Merlin is no longer a threat. He sincerely apologized for what happened and the fact that you were put in danger at his school, and promised me that it was safe for you to return there now that Merlin had been taken care of." Dale reported.
"So I can go back to school?" Madelyn excitedly asked.
"What do you think, Angie?" Dale asked his wife.
"Well, it sounds pretty safe to me. I would say she can go back if she also feels safe." Angie responded.
"I definitely feel safe! Merlin's gone for good." Madelyn replied.
"I still don't like that you were literally kidnapped in this school by a vengeful spirit, or a criminal, or whoever 'Merlin' was." Dale looked worried. "I think it's okay for you to go back if you feel safe and your headmaster says there's no threat anymore. However, I want you to call me every single week for the rest of the school year, and give me an update."
"I will, daddy. I promise." Madelyn assured.
"Do you feel sure that she's safe here, Velma?" Angie asked.
Velma took a deep breath and thought about it for a minute.
"Yes, I'm sure she's safe. Merlin was crushed by that brick wall, and he's gone. You can count on me to protect her. Now that I had that horrible experience of watching my little sister being kidnapped by a fiend, I'll be watching her like a hawk. When I'm not around, I'll be telling her friends to watch her closely should any other threat arise by some strange chance." Velma promised.
"Well then, it sounds like it will be okay for Madelyn to return." Dale said. "Given all that, I'm fine with her going back."
"As am I." Angie agreed.
Velma was pretty sure of what she was saying, but she felt incredibly guilty because she wasn't 100% confident that Merlin was actually gone. She wanted to support her sister's wishes, but she honestly didn't know if this would be what was best for her. She just hoped that saying that wouldn't lead to her sister being in danger in any way.
It was the night before spring break ended and classes resumed. Velma and Madelyn were in the car, driving back to Whirlen Merlin's.
"I'm so glad our parents were okay with me coming back here!" Madelyn exclaimed.
"Yeah, me too." Velma smiled. "It would have been weird teaching at the school without having you there. Do you actually think it's safe, though?"
"I think so. You knocked Merlin against that wall, and he didn't come out of the room with us before that part of the room crumbled." Madelyn replied.
"He's already a ghost, though." Velma pointed out. "How would that kill him? Can you even kill a ghost?"
"Well, I didn't think you could push a ghost, but apparently you can." Madelyn laughed. "I think he's definitely gone. If he wasn't, he would have done something to stop you from rescuing me."
"I guess you're right." Velma shrugged. She admittedly still felt very uneasy. She could easily see Merlin just faking being defeated, then coming back stronger than ever. Regardless, she needed to think about it more before discussing it with Madelyn. She realized she needed to do it quickly, though…before it was too late.
Velma had been hailed as a hero by the entirety of Whirlen Merlin's School of Magic for rescuing Madelyn and Parry from Merlin's grasp. Everybody had asked her how in the world she'd thought to look for Parry in the place people would have least expected Merlin to hide somebody. Of course, she told them, but she didn't have any particularly grandiose explanation like she thought they would all be expecting. She simply thought it might be a good idea to check if Madelyn had left any sort of note before being kidnapped, although it was a huge long shot, and found Parry. Parry led them to Madelyn. That was about the extent of the story. She supposed jumping at Merlin and pushing him against the wall was heroic, but she didn't particularly feel the action was well-thought through even if it was ultimately successful. It could have easily failed, and she could have gotten herself and the others captured along with Madelyn. Quite frankly, she was surprised it had even worked. For a ghost, it seemed incredibly easy to defeat Merlin.
Monday morning had arrived, and all the students had now returned from break. Many parents dropped their children off the prior night, but some waited until the morning classes resumed. Velma watched them file in as she ate a bagel and sipped on a glass of milk for breakfast.
"Woah! You're that teacher, Ms. Dinkley, aren't you? The one that rescued those two students?" a male student with red hair inquired.
"Yes, that's me!" Velma answered.
"That must have taken so much bravery and courage." the student said in awe.
"It did." Velma responded. She didn't particularly feel like anybody special for what she had done. In her opinion, she was just doing what any teacher would do: help their students.
"That's amazing!" the student replied. "So cool to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too!" Velma answered. She wondered if this was going to become the new norm now, where students would recognize her regardless of whether she knew them or not. She noticed Whirlen heading towards her, likely getting his morning breakfast too. Madelyn was alongside him.
"Hey sis!" Madelyn greeted.
"Top of the morning, Velma!" Whirlen formally greeted. "Welcome back from Spring Break! I wanted to inform you of an event we have coming up here."
"Oh, you're talking about the magic show that Ms. Rumbridge's class is doing in the auditorium tonight?" Velma asked. "Madelyn already told me about that."
"Well, yes, but I wanted to inform you of a special last-minute addition we've made to the event." Whirlen started. "At the end of the show, we'd like to have a special segment honoring you with an award for your extreme courage and bravery in rescuing Madelyn and Parry from Merlin."
"Oh…wow." Velma gasped. She never would have expected this in a million years. "I'm honored."
"Yes, that's what I just said." Whirlen repeated. "You're going to be honored with this award."
"I know, I was just saying I'm honored about being honored." Velma joked with a light chuckle.
"We don't give meta-honorships here at Whirlen Merlin's." Whirlen looked annoyed.
Velma chose to drop the subject. There were several little things that Whirlen was always odd about, so she decided to ignore it.
"Well, I'm excited to receive the honor." Velma simply decided to say. Admittedly, she didn't really feel like she deserved it. She didn't do anything all that special, and she didn't really make the conscious decision to act and save her sister. She simply did the first thing that came to mind, which, luckily for her, ultimately worked out. She didn't think that particularly deserved an award, but she supposed she might as well embrace the school's newfound desire to put her on a pedestal.
Velma admittedly felt a bit weird heading into class today after nearly three weeks of not being there, between Spring Break and the week off they'd had to keep the students safe from Merlin's attack. She sat atop the elevated ground at the front of the room, standing by the podium at the ready to begin teaching sharply at 1. When she noticed Brian came into the room, she had to fight the urge to immediately race over to him to see why he had been missing so many classes previously. She knew it would be better to give him privacy rather than possibly having anyone from the class overhear it.
"Alright, class. We've had a lot going on the past few weeks, but I'm excited to let you know that - to use a very literary pun - I'd say we've turned a page. As you know, Merlin is gone, and we no longer have to worry about anything horrible like you saw last time you were in class. I'm so sorry you had to see that, and…"
Velma's heart nearly leaped out of her chest when the lights suddenly went out again. She expected the absolute worst possibility: Merlin would reappear and make everybody in her class disappear.
She was so petrified that Merlin would reappear that she shut her eyes even once the lights came on. Knowing that she had to keep her students safe, she slowly reopened her eyes to see what the current situation was. She was shocked at what she saw: nothing. The entire class was still sitting in their seats, which she made sure of by doing a quick roll call in her mind.
"Oh my gosh, was that Merlin?" Sabrina panicked.
"I…I'm not sure." Velma stuttered. She was utterly panicked that it could be Merlin, and she didn't know how to process what had just happened.
Velma spent the rest of the day feeling on edge and almost uncomfortable in her own skin. Besides the fear of Merlin returning, she also felt horrible about bringing her sister back to this school. What if Merlin had returned and she had put Madelyn in some sort of serious danger?
Regardless, it was time for the magic show, so Velma tried to temporarily set the thought to the side, even though it was difficult. She didn't really have any idea what to expect, but since Whirlen hadn't asked her to prepare a speech, she didn't think it would require much preparation. Thinking through a short speech in her mind was about the extent of the thought she'd put into it.
Velma simply sat in the audience with Madelyn and Sadie on one side. No one was sitting on the other side for a few moments, until Brian came over and sat in the seat. She'd been so shaken up by the potential return of Merlin earlier today that she hadn't talked to him after class as she'd intended to.
"Hey Brian!" Velma exclaimed.
"Oh…hey." Brian stuttered. He looked as if he hadn't noticed that she was in the seat next to him.
"It was good to see you in class today." Velma replied. "You know…I know what you might be going through."
"You do?" Brian looked shocked.
"Yes. It's got to be a nerve-wracking situation coming into a class where the ghost of Merlin is regularly appearing. I assure you, he's gone now."
"Yeah…" Brian nodded his head. "I'm…umm…already an anxious person, so that was making me pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. I've been avoiding coming to class."
"I've noticed." Velma said. She didn't want to come across confrontational in the slightest, since she wanted to be as supportive as possible. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable about coming to class?"
"Well, Merlin seems to be gone now, so I'm feeling more comfortable." Brian responded.
This instantly made Velma a little tense, given the events of yesterday. Clearly he didn't believe the momentary power outage was Merlin, but Velma was definitely convinced. She didn't want to unnecessarily worry him when she didn't know for sure if it was actually Merlin or not.
Velma's eyes averted over to the front of the auditorium when she saw the curtain go up, with Whirlen standing at the front of the stage.
"Greetings, students and faculty." Whirlen began. "Every year at the Me School of Magic, we have a talented group of students from Mrs. Rumbridge's Magical Technique course that perform what they've learned over this first half of the semester. Tonight, we have an especially amazing group of students showing us what they've learned. Mrs. Rumbridge, do you have any words you'd like to share about your students before they begin performing?"
"The pleasure will be all theirs, I'm sure!" Mrs. Rumbridge exclaimed in the shrill voice that Velma hated.
"Alright then, I now present to you our Midterm Magic Show presenters!" Whirlen exclaimed.
Velma saw several students bustle out onto stage. She only recognized Ashley thus far. Ashley donned a long black dress, whilst the two gentlemen on stage wore suits and top hats. One of the male students took off his hat, and pulled a large black rabbit out of it.
"Wow!" Velma exclaimed. "How'd he do that?"
"That's the trick of the trade, sis!" Madelyn exclaimed. "I learned it too in her class last fall. I wish you could have seen the show!"
"Seems like one student didn't really prepare too well." Sadie pointed out.
"It's the magic of electricity! Ooh!" another male student said, as he flickered the backstage lights on and off.
"Now, I am about to perform the trick of sawing someone in half!" a familiar voice exclaimed from backstage. Velma quickly realized it was Sabrina, who raced out to the main stage with a large box. Another student's head and feet were sticking out of the box. Just as she was about to put the saw to the box, another male student in a black suit grabbed the saw out of her hand.
"Well folks, how did you enjoy that trick? Get it? There was never any intention to actually perform that act, so the trick was on you guys! Hahahaha!" the male student exclaimed.
"Oh dear, I'm afraid I didn't like that much at all." Bumbledore shook his head from the side of the stage. "Assuredly that will get an F."
"Yeah, but he'll get an A from me! Great wordplay, Jack!" Mr. Mistara, the Magical Vocabulary teacher said, as the student ran to him and gave him a high five. "Yeah!"
"If you wouldn't mind." Sabrina put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently. The student quickly handed her back the saw, and she began cutting the box.
Sadie looked like she was on the edge of her seat in complete shock. Velma knew all this stuff was done in a way that wouldn't hurt anybody, so she wasn't particularly worried.
"Oh my gosh!" Sabrina dramatically cried, in a very 'theater kid'-like way as she had nearly cut through the box. "This is the end of poor, poor Peter!"
"Hey! What'd you say about my family's financial situation?" Peter snapped.
At that moment, the box snapped in half. It appeared that Peter's body had been completely severed into two, although there was no blood. This only further proved Velma's point there was nothing to be anxious about.
"Hey! I still feel like me." Peter's supposedly disconnected head said from the right side of the box.
"That's because you are still you!" Sabrina revealed, as she opened the other end of the box with Peter's head in it. "This side of the box has Peter all in one piece. In the other box, it's just fake legs!"
Sabrina opened the other box to demonstrate that there were dummy legs positioned to look like Peter's real legs.
"Our next trick will be a real treat." Ashley announced, as she and three other students hurried out onto stage. She had a deck of cards in her hands, and held one out to a female student with dirty blonde hair. "Pick one card and show it to the audience please, before I shuffle it."
The other female student pulled a card. She showed the seven of hearts to the audience, before handing it back to Ashley. Ashley shuffled up the entire deck extremely thoroughly, then pulled out a card. Not only was that card the seven of hearts, but all sorts of Halloween candy began spraying out of the deck: Starburst, Skittles, Twizzlers, and much more.
The crowd erupted in cheering and clapping.
"Woah! I hope I learn that when I'm in this class next fall." Sadie commented.
Although she knew none of it was technically "real," Velma was quite impressed with the show that the students had put on. For the most part, all of it was immaculate and really showcased that the students were clearly learning a lot in the course.
The magic show had nearly concluded at this point. Sabrina had just announced it would be the final trick of the night, and it appeared they were going out with a bang…literally speaking.
"For my final trick, I'm going to light these fireworks with these two tiny sticks!" Sabrina announced. "As you can see, the sticks are incredibly brittle and small, so it will be nearly an impossible feat!"
Velma could see what she meant: the sticks were paper-thin and looked like they had been pulled off some tiny little bush. There was no logical way that this could start the fire to light those fireworks.
In a very delicate, theatrical manner, Sabrina lightly rubbed the two sticks together, and all of a sudden, a fire erupted. Thankfully, it was small enough that it was contained. Very carefully, Sabrina used the fire from both of the sticks to light the wick of the firework. The length of the firework's wick began to disappear as the flame creeped down it. Once it reached the bottom, the firework went into midair and created a small explosion effect. Velma presumed there was some sort of precaution taken so that the explosion wouldn't create any sort of danger.
"Well, I guess fire works! Hahahaha!" Peter exclaimed.
"Ugh, that was terrible." Bumbledore exclaimed. "If I were the instructor, I'd bring that student's grade down to a D for that…D for Don't ever say that dreadful pun again."
"Wow, that was amazing! How'd he do it?" Sadie gasped.
A male student sitting next to Sadie leaned over to her and whispered "They soaked the sticks in lighter fluid." This caused Velma's jaw to drop a little bit.
Her attention averted over to Whirlen, who was making his way on stage to make an announcement. Velma wondered if this was going to be when he gave her the award.
"Wow, that was a great performance!" Whirlen exclaimed. "It's clear Mrs. Rumbridge's class has been working very hard this semester. Now, to conclude the evening's event, we will be giving a very special award out to a member of the audience. To do this, I've invited an esteemed celebrity to do so."
Another man walked up on stage. He was a skinny fellow with long legs, black hair, and donned a suit with a bowtie. Velma gasped internally when she recognized who it was.
"Hi folks! My name is Don Knotts!" the man exclaimed. "Now, I'm sure your stomach is in KNOTTS wondering who's going to win this award."
"We know it's Ms. Dinkley!" a loud young male from the audience shouted.
"Ah, kids these days have no sense of humor. I was going to tell you all the importance of focusing on your studies and what-KNOTT." Don punnily replied. "But anyway, I will KNOTT make you wait any longer. This award is dedicated to someone who showed a lot of bravery, courage, and integrity when it came to the line of duty. She was KNOTT afraid to do what she knew was right. I'm talking about none other than Velma Dinkley!"
Velma supposed that was her cue to go up on stage, so the instructor got out of her seat and hurried up there.
"Good to see you again, Velma!" Don exclaimed.
"Nice to see you again too, Don!" Velma responded.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Whirlen looked shocked.
"Yeah, she came up to Juneberry a while ago for some bananas and chocolate custard!" Don replied, matter-of-factly. "I now present you with this Whirlen Merlin Honor of Extreme Bravery, Courage, Integrity, Confidence, Drivenness, and ''Well Gee Willikers, You Rescued Madelyn and Parry'' Award!"
"Thank you, I'm truly honored…" Velma quickly caught herself and avoided saying she was honored about getting the honor, as not to start that whole mess again. "I mean, I'm glad to have received this award. I love this school, and I really care about every student here. I'm going to make sure this school stays safe!"
She admittedly felt a bit awkward and embarrassed after saying that, because it unintentionally came off as if she were running for political office or something, but nonetheless, she truly meant her sentiment.
The crowd in the auditorium erupted in cheering. Although Velma knew the school appreciated her, she still had a bit of imposter syndrome. She worried that the students and faculty were putting her on a pedestal. What if Merlin wasn't really gone, and what if he tried to kidnap somebody from her class again? What if she couldn't keep her students safe, and her image was ruined forever in the eyes of the school?
Velma felt a sense of dread as she sat down at the breakfast table. She didn't want to go back to class today and potentially put her students in danger again, due to whatever obsession Merlin had with appearing in her class. She realized that she was building something up in her head that might not even be real, but nonetheless, the feeling of worrying Merlin had returned continued to bubble past a simmer in the boiling pot that was her anxious brain.
"Hey sis!" Madelyn greeted. "That's so exciting you won that award last night!"
"Yeah. I guess." Velma muttered. She wanted to be excited about the school's admiration of her, but she was lost in a sense of imposter syndrome that she didn't feel anybody could understand.
"Velms…what's wrong? I can tell something's bugging you." Madelyn replied.
Sigh. A sister always knows, Velma supposed.
"Well…" Velma had promised to protect her little sister, and she wasn't about to break that promise. She knew in her heart the best course of action was to just be honest from the get-go.
"You know how the lights went out in class yesterday?" Velma asked Madelyn.
"Yeah. What about it?" Madelyn wondered with a nonchalant tone.
"I think it might have been…" Velma had intended to bring her tone down to a whisper, but Madelyn said it for her at full volume.
"Merlin?"
"Yeah." Velma whispered. "I don't know what to do. Everybody thinks I'm a hero, but I might not have even defeated him. I'd be open about it in class, but if Merlin's watching our class again, he might kidnap somebody else and I can't have that happen. I don't even know what I'd do if that happened."
"Well, if you can't talk about it in class, why don't you start a little secret after-school club where people can talk about how to handle Merlin? Just like you did in class, but in a secret club!" Madelyn suggested.
"That seems kind of dangerous." Velma responded. "Just changing the time isn't going to throw Merlin off."
"Ask Whirlen for permission to do it in his office. Maybe doing it in Merlin's ancestor's office will deter him from coming in… if he's still around, which I don't think he is." Madelyn continued.
"Permission granted!" Bumbledore exclaimed, as he walked by.
"Did you even hear what we're doing in there?" Velma flashed him a confused look.
"No, but I trust you." Bumbledore shrugged. "In fact, this school is so amazing, I trust everybody! Although come to think of it, perhaps that's how all the crude drawings of me with an enlarged rump featuring the caption 'BUMbledore' keep appearing on the wall. Hmmm…something to process further, I suppose."
"Well, thank you for trusting us, but how do we spread the word to the students?" Velma asked. "We can't exactly tell them in class, or Merlin will know."
"I think I've got an idea." Madelyn said mysteriously.
Although she believed Madelyn's idea was a good one, she still wasn't quite sure what she thought of it. Nonetheless, she skeptically went ahead with it. Just before class was about to start, she handed a note to Ramando.
"This is an attendance sheet. Please sign it…if you want." Velma stuttered. In reality, it wasn't actually an attendance sheet…it was a sheet with a vague amount of information on a group meeting about Merlin. It simply read 'If you're interested in learning more about the wizard, sign your name on this sheet and come to Whirlen's office around 4.'
She tried not to focus on the note, as not to let Merlin know it was of any real importance in case he was still watching. Although it was hard, Velma tried to just start class without thinking about the note.
"Hi class, today we're going to discuss a little more about the New and Remembered Hexes and Tricks book by Leduardo Imus." Velma began. "Does anybody have any questions about the book?"
Velma tensed up when there was silence in the class, only because she knew that note was still making its way around. She saw that it was about midway through the class. Sadie was currently glancing at it and writing her name down.
"Okay, if not, I'll just dive into my lecture." Velma began. "Leduardo Imus was a stage magician ahead of his time, who expressed his extraordinary talents through hexes and magic tricks in his youth. After he attended university, and got to be around 25, he wrote this book and…"
Velma was interrupted by Parry coming up to the front of the room handing her the note.
"This says there's been an unexpected death in my family!" Velma gasped as she read the note.
"Oh, sorry. That's for something else. This is the one I meant to hand." Parry responded.
Velma breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was the note with the list of names. At quick glance, it appeared there were around ten students on the list, which she was happy about. She didn't want Merlin to know anything was up, so she simply shoved the note in her pocket and continued to teach her lecture.
Velma became increasingly nervous as the clock's hand moved towards the four. Although Merlin hadn't made an appearance in class today, she was still worried that somehow he knew about this meeting and would be watching them, or worse yet, kidnap a student from the meeting.
"This is so exciting, sis!" Madelyn exclaimed. "Your first time hosting a club meeting!"
Velma wasn't feeling particularly excited, given this felt very risky if Merlin was still around, but she tried to channel some of her sister's excitement.
"I wonder how many people will show up." Velma pondered.
"Well, there were about five on the sheet when it got around to me." Madelyn informed.
Velma pulled the note out of her pocket and glanced at the list. Mitch, Ashley, Owen, Sabrina, Sadie, Madelyn, Annabelle, Kara, John and Parry had signed up. She was admittedly surprised Parry had joined, given his general tomfoolery and lack of interest in the classroom, but she supposed maybe being kidnapped was a motivating factor for him to want to join.
"Looks like there's ten on this list." Velma reported to her sister. "Hopefully they'll all show up."
"Well, we'll find out in a minute!" Madelyn replied, as she began to approach Bumbledore's office. She gasped in surprise when she saw a group of unfamiliar people.
"Are you here for Edna Twigglesberry's Tea Party?" a male student with a thick British accent inquired.
"Um…no…I thought there was another club meeting in this room." Madelyn stuttered, feeling embarrassed.
"Mads, it's in Whirlen's office. This is Bumbledore's office." Velma reminded.
"Oh…thank goodness." Madelyn breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wait…you don't want any tea?" the same student asked.
"No…we have to get to a meeting. Sorry." Madelyn apologized.
"Alright, then I just guess we'll have to start this tea fight without you then!" the student informed.
As Madelyn and Velma walked down the hall to Whirlen's office, several yelps and shouts of "oww" could be heard from the tea party room.
Velma and Madelyn walked side-by-side into Whirlen's office and saw nine of the ten students sitting on the floor and waiting. It appeared only Parry was missing.
"Hey everyone. Thanks so much for coming!" Velma appreciated. "I know that note was vague, so I'm going to tell you a little bit more about my thoughts on creating this. If you decide this isn't something you want to be a part of, you're welcome to leave."
"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late. I didn't really care about this, but then, at the last minute, I decided I did!" Parry provided an excuse.
"That's okay, Parry. I'm just about to talk about why I decided to create this club centered around investigating Merlin." Velma responded.
"Is that what this stupid club's about? I thought it was an audition for Merlin's replacement!" Parry revealed. "Never mind. I'm out."
"Honestly, I thought this was a caucus for your election." John responded.
Velma gave him a puzzled look. "I'm not running for any position."
"Well, you might not be, but people are really trying to get you to be lead of the faculty committee. Just check out this video." John said, as he pulled a VHS tape out of his backpack and inserted it in a player below a TV on the other side of the room.
The TV showed an image of Velma looking proud whilst teaching her students, as a narrator spoke over her.
"Velma Dinkley successfully saved two students from the grasps of an evil madman! She's strong! She's driven! And she can do anything she puts her mind to!" the narrator announced, before the scene shifted to a video of a student talking.
"Yeah, I'd take any class from Velma." a female student wearing a blue shirt said, before the camera switched to another student.
"Velma's the best! I wouldn't want to mess with her." a male student wearing a red shirt replied.
Velma was shocked when the scene shifted to none other than one of her best friends, Shaggy. "I know I'm an all-powerful God and all, but I wouldn't even want to use 100% of my power on her. It just wouldn't defeat her."
Velma wondered why exactly he'd said he was an all-powerful God when such a thing didn't exist, but she supposed maybe he was bribed to with food by whoever made this silly video.
The video returned to footage of Velma passionately lecturing, and putting her foot down. She believed this was somehow taken when she was discussing the Gridditch Through the Years book, and trying to adamantly make the point that Kisp felt the sport was completely obsolete.
"When Velma puts her foot down, nothing will stand in her way! We need a fearless leader, and that leader is right in front of us. Velma Dinkley: tough on discipline; tough on Merlin!"
A heavily edited shot of Velma pounding her right fist against left was then shown, with an "oomph!" sound effect that sounded far more like a chorus of deep-voiced men than it did Velma.
"So, what'd ya think?" John asked.
"Umm…I'm glad people want me to lead the faculty committee, but I have no idea what that even is. That's not even what this meeting's about." Velma was befuddled by how a campaign to elect her to a position she'd never even heard of had been started.
"Ah man. I'm outta here, then. However, Velma's still our man…I mean wo-man." John said, as he left the room and shut the door behind him.
Velma tried to ignore what had just happened and simply continued explaining to the other students.
"While I don't want anybody to worry, I'll be blunt: I think that the lights going out in class yesterday might have been Merlin signaling a return." Velma informed her students. "Our efforts to solve the mystery of what he wants in class didn't really work, so I thought I'd move it here so we could do it more in secret."
"I love that idea!" Ashley exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's a great plan!" Sadie agreed.
"So, this is like a book club?" Annabelle inquired.
"Not exactly. I won't have you be reading anything…we're all on the same level here." Velma replied.
"Sweet, we are? So…what's your love life lookin' like these days?" Owen asked.
Velma sighed. "I just mean that this club is intended for us all to discuss our ideas about Merlin."
"What's the name of our club going to be?" Mitch inquired.
Velma felt like they were sort of missing the important part of this club, but she supposed she could humor them.
"Ooh…something like Dinkley's Army would be cool!" Ashley suggested. "We could call it DA for short!"
"Isn't that super similar to…nevermind. Let's go with Dinkley's Army for now." Velma shrugged. "That's not the important part of this club anyway, so it really doesn't matter what we name it. Now, I'm not going to be grading you on this. It's just an extracurricular discussion where all of us have equal stakes. I have a couple ideas I'd like to throw out there and get others' perspectives on."
"As would I." Kara chimed in.
"Good." Velma smiled. "You can go first."
"Well, it's pretty common knowledge you pushed Merlin against a brick wall. How did you do that if he was a ghost?"
Velma smiled at her student's perceptiveness. "That was exactly the same thing I was going to ask."
"Is it possible he's not really a ghost at all?" Madelyn suggested.
"I mean…I have to imagine he's a real ghost, right?" Ashley suggested. "Otherwise, how would he be able to appear and disappear without us seeing him?"
"He does always disappear in a cloud of smoke, to be fair." Kara pointed out.
"That cold icy chill that I felt…it was like something went right through me." Sabrina remembered. "You can't tell me that's not a real ghost."
All valid points. Velma was genuinely conflicted about what to believe.
"What would he have wanted, though?" Madelyn inquired. "He just tied me up for two days. He didn't try to kill me or anything like that. The worst thing he did was make that potion and tried to force me to drink it."
"What was the potion supposed to do?" Mitch followed up.
"It was supposed to put me into a deep sleep." Madelyn answered.
"How would that benefit him?" Sadie asked. "That doesn't really seem like it would advance any agenda Merlin might have had, other than I guess he'd be punishing a student of this school."
"It would benefit him in the sense that people feared him." Kara postulated.
"Do you think that's his goal, then?" Annabelle inquired. "Just to have people fear him?"
"You might be onto something, Kara." Velma wondered. "When I talked to Marlin, he said that Merlin was returning for the 1,500th anniversary of his death. Maybe he's trying to assert that he's still dominant over this school even in death?"
"I still feel like we're missing a piece." Ashley responded.
"I believe I can fill that missing piece in." a voice in the doorway responded, causing everyone to jump. They quickly relaxed when they saw it was only Whirlen's brother, Marlin. "I assume everybody's aware that Merlin built this school right before his death."
All of the students nodded, but Velma didn't move a muscle. She honestly had no idea about Merlin's connection to this school, but it made sense.
"I believe the girl over there has a point." Marlin pointed to Kara, before making a comment that made everybody's jaw drop. "I think Merlin's trying to reclaim the school."
Author's note:
Perhaps this wasn't as action-packed as last chapter, but I hope you still enjoyed it! Since you know this fanfic loves riffing off Harry Potter, I have a couple of references from that franchise to break down haha. The book that Velma teaches in this chapter, New and Remembered Hexes and Tricks by Leduardo Imus is a parody of a book that Harry Potter is taught, Old and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes by Eduardo Limus. Moreover, Velma's secret group is a parody of Dumbledore's Army, which is what Velma was hinting at when she started saying the club name was similar to something, since that group was also called the DA and it's a pretty obvious rip-off of that group.
As an interesting little tidbit, Google Docs recommended that I change "it was the night before Spring Break ended" to "'Twas the night before Spring Break ended" haha. Oddest grammar suggestion I've seen on here thus far.
