Author's note:

I'm going to switch it up a bit today and include the author's note at the beginning of the chapter, since the only reference in this chapter happens by the second paragraph. The author of the book Velma assigns to her students, Hilda Hagshot, is a reference to a character in the Harry Potter franchise, Bathilda Bagshot. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Velma felt tension in her shoulders as she concluded her lecture for the day. The class itself was going decently well, but Velma was more worried for what was to come in a few hours. The very first DA meeting since Merlin had usurped the headmaster position would be occurring, and while Velma thought it was a necessary step to defeating Merlin, she was terrified she'd be caught or found out by Merlin.

"That concludes our lecture for today, class. Make sure you read the Hilda Hagshot book for tomorrow!" Velma reminded.

She felt a cold chill run down her spine when she heard a slow clapping from a figure standing in the doorway.

"Very good, Ms. Dinkley." Merlin hissed. "Seems like you've passed."

"You mean, that was my teaching evaluation?" Velma stuttered. She thought she'd at the very least be notified when it was going to happen, but she supposed Merlin really wanted the element of surprise.

"Yes, and you've passed…unfortunately, your friend Mr. Walters wasn't so lucky." Merlin chuckled evilly.

Merlin came out of the doorway, revealing he had his arms wrapped around Mr. Walters.

"No! I promise I'm a good teacher! I'm sorry I didn't live up to your standards! Please don't kick me out!" Mr. Walters pleaded.

"I'm afraid it's too late! You've proven you will never live up to my standards!" Merlin cackled.

"No! No! I won't accept this!" Mr. Walters cried.

"He'll be gone quickly if he knows what's good for him. Now, I'm going to need Ron and Madelyn to report for their work shifts." Merlin demanded.

"Bye, sis." Madelyn whimpered. "I wish I could stay for the rest of class, but I guess duty calls."

"Well, you know what the Boss Man always says. A busy body is an active body!" Ron rationalized.

The bell rang just as Ron and Madelyn departed the classroom with Merlin.

She'd been so preoccupied with worrying about Merlin that she'd not felt as invested in her class as she wanted to, but she thought everyone was doing decently good grade-wise. Even some of the struggling students like Ramando and Ron had at least turned it around a little, which Velma was happy about. Parry continued to barely get by with subpar assignments, but his groupmate Jake was miserably failing. He had only turned in four assignments this semester, and had done terribly on all of them.

Since she needed an escape from thinking about the DA meeting this afternoon, Velma decided to take advantage of the opportunity to talk to Jake.

"Hey Jake." Velma said, as she went up to the red-shirted student. "I just wanted to talk to you about your grade. Right now, you're failing the course. There are only five weeks left in the course, and I'm really worried about your ability to turn it around. Do you think you could start working on some late assignments? I'd be willing to give you partial credit."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try." Jake muttered, as he got out of his seat and promptly walked off.

It saddened Velma how little Jake seemed to care about his education. However, Velma was even more worried about Brian, who hadn't shown up to class in approaching two weeks. She would have to do something to help him if she could, but in an insane working environment with a ghost for a boss, she had no idea how.

The butterflies in Velma's stomach seem to be fluttering around more and more as the time approached 4:00pm.

Velma tried to distract her mind between when class ended and the meeting by updating the students' attendance sheet, but she was working at a snail's pace due to her anxious mind. She worried that she was somehow putting herself or her students in danger by holding this meeting. Her brain kept coming up with reasons to cancel the meeting, but ultimately, she knew if she did nothing, Merlin would continue his reign of terror and who knows what would happen. Thank goodness Whirlen had paid her one hundred $100 bills at the beginning of the semester, because she probably wouldn't have even been paid otherwise.

Just as she'd finally distracted her brain by calculating out all the possible ways for Jake to still pass the course (and there weren't many), Velma realized it was almost 4. Cautiously, she sifted through the empty halls. Just as she had nearly reached Bumbledore's office, she bumped into the last person she would have ever expected to.

"Oh…hey Ms. Dinkley." Brian said nervously.

"Hi Brian. I've missed having you in class lately!" Velma tried to strike a positive tone as not to frighten him away. "I hope you'll be back soon!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about missing so much. I've just…this whole Merlin thing has been a lot for me." Brian admitted. "I'm terrified he's going to do something horrible if we don't abide by everything he says."

Velma felt really sorry for Brian. It was clear that he had some very serious issues with anxiety. She supposed there would be no harm in inviting him to the DA meetings. "Hey, you know, I'm just about to go to a little support meeting, where students are able to talk about their concerns with the new situation. You'd be welcome to join."

"Oh, really?" Brian asked. "That'd be great! Where's it at?"

"Just follow me." Velma smiled. Brian cautiously sauntered along behind her for the few steps before they reached Bumbledore's office.

As Velma opened the door, she was relieved to see the normal eight students sitting there.

"Oh, hey Brian!" Mitch greeted.

"Hey." Brian meekly replied.

"Brian's going to join us today." Velma began. "So…needless to say, we've been through a lot in these past weeks. I was thinking we could go around and just check in to see how everybody is doing. Kara, do you want to start?"

"I'm doing alright." Kara cautiously nodded. "It's been a lot to deal with."

"Yeah, I agree. I'm really growing tired of all the whippings in the work room." Sadie replied, causing Velma's jaw to drop.

"Merlin's whipping you?" Velma gasped.

"Yeah." Owen confirmed. "Whipped creaming us, that is. Whenever we don't dig deep enough, he sprays a bottle of whipped cream in our face. Gets old pretty fast."

"I haven't been doing so well with all this. I'm not good at manual labor, and all this digging is causing my muscles to ache." Annabelle lamented. "I wish Merlin could just do the digging himself."

"To be fair, I still doubt he's a real ghost." Kara shared.

"How's that?" Mitch looked confused.

"Well, if he were a real ghost, wouldn't he just use his magic to dig holes instead of making the students do it?" Kara hypothesized.

"I think he just likes torturing us, to be honest." Madelyn chimed in.

"That checks out. I'm getting real tired of hearing 'Push It' by Salt 'N' Pepa on continuous loop as we work." Mitch admitted.

"On top of that, he's made it so that the washing machines cost four quarters for a wash instead of one!" Sabrina revealed. "What's he using that money for, anyway?"

"I heard he's using it to create a mega-humiliation machine!" Owen guessed.

"I can't help but feel we're getting a bit off track here." Velma jumped in. "How are the rest of you doing?"

"I don't think any of us are doing good, that's for sure." Owen admitted. "I know I'm not, at least."

"Yeah, it's been pretty rough." Sabrina sighed dramatically. "I'm not built for working like this. I'm built for the theater!"

"I've honestly been afraid to go to class or out in public. I haven't been summoned for a shift in the work room yet, and I'm hoping to keep it that way." Brian revealed.

"You're lucky. I feel as if I've been worked to the bone." Ashley started tearing up a little bit.

"All of us have. School isn't fun at all anymore. No clubs, no gourmet meals, no student gatherings. Everything's either classes or work." Mitch sighed.

"I'm not doing well either." Madelyn chimed in. "This has got to stop."

"I agree." Velma responded. "I've been horrified to hear the stories of what you've been going through, and I'm so sorry for everything that's happened. So what are your thoughts on how to stop him?"

"Wait a minute…this is a club to stop Merlin?" Brian gasped. "Isn't this way too dangerous? Merlin will catch us!"

"Not if we maintain a high level of secrecy and keep these meetings between us." Madelyn responded.

"Okay…I guess if you say so." Brian didn't seem so convinced.

"What if we ask him to cast a spell?" Sadie suggested. "If he can't do it, that'll prove he's fake."

"Yeah! I like that idea. We could intimidate him so much that he'll have no choice but to cast a spell. We'll say that if he doesn't cast a spell, we'll tackle him to the ground and bring him to the authorities." Mitch suggested.

"I think that would be too risky." Velma felt weary. "If Merlin does really have powers, which I think he does, he could just cast a spell to harm you or worse if you get on his nerves."

"I agree." Madelyn chimed in. "We can't risk something that dangerous. I think our best strategy is using the element of surprise."

"So you mean, like, jump up behind Merlin and scare him?" Mitch jokingly proposed.

"Not exactly. We need another strategy that's going to surprise Merlin so much that he won't ever expect it."

"Could you jump up behind him again and knock him against a brick wall?" Owen asked.

Velma felt her nerves constrict a bit when Owen suggested this. She knew that the students believed she was a hero who could easily defeat Merlin with the flick of a wrist, but Velma feared sooner or later, she was going to have to take herself off of this pedestal the school had put her on.

"Yeah, you're the head of the Faculty Committee! You could kick Merlin's butt!" Ashley suggested with an overly hopeful tone in her voice.

"Well…" Velma stuttered.

"What is it, sis?" Madelyn inquired.

"It's nothing." Velma sighed. "Let's just keep the discussion going."

Velma didn't know how to break it to the kids that she wasn't nearly as brave and strong as they believed she was. She knew that they looked up to her and thought she was going to save the day, but quite frankly, it was starting to feel like a full-on facade. Not only did Velma have no plan for how to stop Merlin, she had no idea what she was doing in general. How was she ever going to stop Merlin when she could barely even formulate a plan to save herself and her students?

While Monday's meeting was useful, ultimately it had been another discussion session where no concrete plan was formed. She desperately hoped that one of the kids was going to have the magic solution to solve the Merlin issue at today's meeting. Everyone's lives at Whirlen Merlin had become a living nightmare with Merlin around. Velma knew Madelyn's shift in the work room was close to ending, which was good, because the next DA meeting would be starting in a matter of minutes.

When Velma made her way through the front room of the school by the main door, she noticed a large ruckus occurring.

"I'll have you know I've been working in this school for 20 years!" Sam Spangles shouted. "You can't do this!"

"I'm afraid you did not meet my qualifications for teaching here. You're entitled, you're opinionated, and therefore, you're unwanted." Merlin hissed. "Students, start the humiliation machine!"

Two male students pulled a large metal crank, which appeared to move a robotic hand. The hand proceeded to remove Sam's pants so that his underwear was showing, followed by a large metal foot kicking him in the rear end. The forceful kick caused Sam's entire body to sail out the front door.

Velma felt sick to her stomach. She didn't know if she could stand working in this horrible, disgusting work environment one minute longer. Unfortunately for her, she didn't really have much of a choice without Merlin doing something to her, so there wasn't anything she could do. However, Velma did find it a bit odd that Merlin had been so focused on her previously, but now he seemed to be targeting the other teachers.

Velma tried her best to stay out of sight and keep heading for Bumbledore's office. The last thing she needed right now is to have Merlin find out she was secretly holding club meetings to brainstorm ideas for overthrowing him.

Once she'd gotten far enough down the hall, Velma looked behind her to make sure Merlin wasn't following her. She didn't see any sign of Merlin anymore in the main hall, at least not from the glimpse she got, but she figured she should pop her head into the work room to see if Madelyn was still in there.

"Oh god, we've been digging for three hours straight!" a male student wearing a red shirt lamented.

"C'mon, keep working. If we work another 30 minutes, we get a 15 minute coffee break." a female student optimistically replied.

"I don't even like coffee!" the male student sighed.

"Well, it also doubles as a cough-ee break if you need to do that, ever since Merlin imposed that no coughing during work hours rule." the female student explained, as she pointed to a group of several students leisurely coughing together in a corner.

"I'd much rather save up my breaks. If we save 16 coffee breaks, Merlin gives us a vacation day! Ain't that a nice benefit package?" the male student replied.

"Eh, I don't think so." Velma heard John chime in. "I submitted a claim to see if Merlin would cover my new braces, and I still have to pay 75% out of pocket! What a tightwad!"

Velma tried to tune out the students' oddly professional conversation and looked way down in the pit. To her horror, she saw Madelyn digging vigorously. Velma could see her sister's hands were covered in cuts.

The brunette teacher quickly looked around and saw no signs of Merlin. However, she did see Bumbledore standing at the edge of the pit, overseeing all the digging students.

"Bumbledore, where's Merlin?" Velma asked.

"Why would you want to see him?" Bumbledore seemed confused.

"I was just wondering if he was around. I'm here to pick up Madelyn. It looks like she's more than ready too." Velma pointed out. Look at all the cuts on her hands!"

"Oh dear, those are a lot of cuts." Bumbledore exclaimed, only for Velma to see he was looking at a piece of paper in his hands rather than at Madelyn. "Merlin wants to cut back 5% on medical expenses, 10% on vision, and 15% on dental!"

"Ah man!" John blurted. "Now I gotta pay 90% out of pocket for those braces! If I didn't need this job, I'd leave this miserable miser high and dry!"

"You don't need this job. You didn't even volunteer for it; you were forced to work." Velma pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." John acknowledged. "I meant I need this job to not get in trouble with Merlin."

"Sis!" Madelyn exclaimed, distracting Velma from responding to John. "I'm so glad to see you. Let's get going to…movie night."

Velma noticed that Madelyn stopped herself before accidentally revealing any details about the secret club.

"I'm ready when you are." Velma agreed.

With that, the two sisters walked together to Bumbledore's office. Velma was worried they would somehow bump into Merlin, but thankfully, the only person they ran into was Mr. Mistara.

"Hey Velma! You missed the staff meeting this morning!" Mr. Mistara reminded.

"Oh shoot. You're right, I did." Velma fibbed. She had intended to skip the staff meeting, as she knew it was technically optional and she didn't want to have to deal with Merlin. "What'd I miss?"

"You didn't miss much. He passed a rule that you can cast spells on a student if they're misbehaving, a policy that every meal has to be goulash, especially if it's breakfast…oh! He passed that club-club-club policy." Mr. Mistara recounted.

"What's that?" Velma wore a confused expression on her face.

"Anyone found to be running a club will get clubbed with a club." Mr. Mistara revealed, causing Velma to shiver with discomfort.

"Okay, thanks. Good thing I'm not running a club." Velma sheepishly said, which she immediately regretted.

"I was." Mr. Mistara revealed. "Guess my Club Club will never get their night at the club."

"Sorry, I've got a meeting." Velma nervously said. She immediately regretted saying this too, because now Mr. Mistara would probably get curious as to what that meeting was.

"What type of meeting?" Mr. Mistara inquired. "I didn't know about any staff meeting."

"It's a student mentorship meeting. I have a student that's really struggling right now." Velma lied. Technically, that was partially true, since she did have Jake and Brian who were failing her course.

"Oh gotcha!" Mr. Mistara said, as he headed in the other direction. Velma breathed a sigh of relief as he walked further and further down the hall. She and Madelyn quickly scurried into Bumbledore's office.

Velma's heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she heard Mr. Mistara's voice again. "Wait, I have one more question….why are you going in Bumbledore's office? He's not even here! He's at one of his weekly rap sessions."

"Oh…umm…I needed a place to meet a student. I didn't want to be unprofessional and do it in my room." Velma quickly made up an excuse. "Bumbledore approved it. Go ahead and ask him."

Knowing that Bumbledore literally approved everything that came his way, she figured this was a lie she could easily get away with.

"I believe you, but why's Madelyn going in there with you? She's one of my best students, so she can't be the one you're talking about!" Mr. Mistara challenged.

"I think the better question is why do you keep asking so many questions?" Madelyn challenged. Velma internally facepalmed. That was the worst thing she could have said to decrease Mr. Mistara's misgivings.

This was confirmed by the fact that Mistara had a stern look on his face for a moment, until his facial expression suddenly changed to a look of confusion. "God, you're right! What the heck is wrong with me?! Sorry, you'll have to excuse me while I go think about that question in silent contemplation for the next five and a half hours."

Velma waited until Mr. Mistara had walked a safe distance away this time before saying "Good thinking, Madelyn…I guess."

"A sister always knows best." Madelyn chuckled, as she held open the door to Bumbledore's office for her sibling.

Velma was relieved to see all of her seven other students there again. She didn't see Brian, but she wasn't sure if he was coming. A sudden knock at the door seemed to answer her question…or so she thought.

"Who is it?" Velma inquired.

"It's Marlin."

Velma quickly hurried over to the door and opened it for him.

"Hey Marlin! How did you hear that the club was meeting again?" Velma asked.

"Sadie told me." Marlin replied, as Sadie smiled sheepishly.

"That's okay, Sadie! We're glad to have you back, Marlin. We need all the help we can get with brainstorming." Velma replied. "So, did anyone have any thoughts about Merlin since we last met?"

"I was thinking, he's been having students dig for weeks now. If he really wanted to find this wand and he had powers, couldn't he have just used his magic to find it himself?" Kara asked. "It would be way quicker."

"That's a great point, Kara. I think -" Velma paused as the door flung open. Her heart began to race heavily, as she started to panic assuming the worst case scenario. She quickly calmed down when the door fully opened to reveal it was just Brian.

"Oh, hey Brian." Velma greeted. "You scared me."

"So you guys are meeting again tonight to plot against Merlin?" Brian asked.

"Yep." Owen confirmed.

"Well, you won't be able to do that anymore. Clubs aren't allowed here according to Merlin's new rule." Brian's tone became more bothered.

"It's fine, Brian. I know you're worried, but we've made sure everything's safe and that Merlin won't know about this." Velma couldn't say this with absolute certainty, but she wanted to comfort her anxious student. Brian seemed even more flustered than usual, which made Velma want to ensure she assured him that everything would be okay.

"Oh, he knows." Brian's facial expression became grim.

"WHAT?!" Madelyn screamed. "How do you know that?"

"You guys think you're hot shots trying to outsmart Merlin, but the reality is, there's no way to defeat him. I don't want him running this place anymore than you do, but I attended your meeting on Monday, which means I was involved with your club once, even if I didn't fully realize what it was." Brian said, his breathing becoming increasingly heavy and intense. "I'm not letting Merlin punish me. The only way to redeem myself was to come clean about everything."

"Brian, what are you saying?" Velma cried out in fear.

"I'm sorry, but I hope you understand I couldn't put myself in danger like that. Velma, you should be ashamed of yourself! Putting your students in danger like this. You too, Marlin." Brian's expression grew dark and intense. "It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I had to. I told Merlin all about how you made a club that's planning to overthrow him, and he's coming to get you right now."