Opps sorry about not updating this story! It's been a hectic couple of weeks but the story has been pounding at my head waiting to be finished and so.....

Constance put the finishing touches on her essay: 'Extract of cat's tooth: Simple remover or deadly ingredient.' She spell checked the 12 page essay one more time; she knew that any mistake would be heavily criticized by Heckity who strived for perfection.

It was hard to believe that she had been at Heckity's academy for 3 years now. This year she would graduate, hopefully, if she managed to impress Heckity. At first Constance had just wanted to get out of this school. Every hour she studied, every paper she wrote, and every test she passed was just another step in escaping this mad hole. But now, after school had become her life, her obsession, she found that she really didn't mind school so much, in fact she enjoyed the work. And Heckity, well she didn't like her any more than when she had arrived at the school, but she now knew what provoked her anger. The one thing that still bothered Constance was that she still feared Heckity Broomhead more than anything. She had been hit so many times that a slap on the face didn't faze her as much as it used to, but the verbal abuse made her insides tighten. She fought for praise and not to be called stupid or a failure.

She headed to advanced potions and found Sydney waiting for her outside of the door. "Constance," she gushed, "I was waiting for you for 20 minutes!! I have the biggest news ever. Julie is getting married, you know her friend that kept visiting her, so she's dropping out of school and out of the competition!" Constance grabbed her hand and the two screamed under their breaths. The graduating competition was the biggest prize that any student could hope to gain. Each year, one student from each of the major divisions (potions, history, chanting, broom flying, and spells) was awarded this scholarship. It showed which students were the best and it gave them money to pursue a career in their chosen field. Sydney and Constance were both competing; Constance in potions and Sydney in spells. Julie Fishcaster had been Constance's biggest competition. "Shoot, Constance I have to go. Advanced spells starts in 5 minutes."

Constance watched her friend run off and went into her potions class feeling exhilarated, even a small class with Heckity couldn't shake her mood. She was surprised at first that she had become friends with Sydney. She normally liked to keep to herself but Sydney kept sitting by her at lunch and dinner and pretty soon they were studying together and whispering secrets between classes. She sat down at her desk remembering to sit straight with her elbows at her side. In her first year at Heckity's academy, Heckity had caught her one period slouching and had taken her, after class, to the posture closet. The posture closet taught the students a variety of lessons. Number one, spikes hurt a lot. Number two, it is possible to sit up straight for two hours to avoid being speared by one hundred large sharp spikes. She had always sat up straight in class after that episode.

Heckity came in at precisely 8 O'clock and the class fumbled around to sit up at attention. The class was for potion majors only and luckily for them all Heckity was teaching it this year. Since it was a small class being picked on by Heckity was a daily occurrence. "Now, since the competition is coming up in only a few short weeks, today would be a good day to test you on elixirs. If you will all stand up besides your desk we will begin." Constance stood beside her desk ready for Heckity's questions, she had studied late last night. "Let's see, Constance, what is the exact boiling temperature for a love elixir." "Exactly 101 degrees Celsius, mam." "That is correct." Constance answered all of Heckity's questions correctly and was the first one to sit down. She couldn't help feeling a surge of pride in her chest. She handed in her 12 page essay to Heckity at the end of the class feeling that for once, she had won, Heckity couldn't touch her anymore. But, unfortunately for Constance, she was wrong. Heckity might have ceased to bother her, but life still had a few punches left.

She met Sydney at their usual table. "So guess what, Heckity didn't yell at me today. I mean I didn't do anything wrong anyways, but you know normally she tells me to answer faster or corrects my answer even if it's right." "Wow Con, that is amazing. Just think how much she used to scare us when we were younger. I used to dread detentions with that woman. I think sometimes I even prayed to be asked to clean the dungeon or something!" The girls smiled as they ate their sandwiches. "So Con, what are you going to do when you've won the potion's scholarship?" "Well I haven't won it yet you know! And I should ask you the same question because no one is as good at spells as you! But what I really want to do is work in potions laboratory, you know making potions for people and hopefully creating a better changing potion. The one that is used now has a number of serious side effects that... What?" She saw that Sydney was giggling. "Oh Constance, even during lunch we always end up talking about school!" The two of them laughed and Constance could ever remember feeling this happy.

She spent the next few weeks studying. She lived potions. Sometimes Sydney would study with her and they would take turns quizzing each other and making up mnemonic devices to remember spells and potions. The annual competition came faster than they had expected and one day Constance woke up with butterflies in her stomach. She got out of bed and brushed her long dark brown hair back into a loose bun to keep her hair out of her face; Heckity hated loose hair. She slipped into her black school uniform and took deep breaths as she laced her pointy black boots. She went down into the great hall, which really wasn't that great Constance thought. She took her seat at the morning assembly. All of the older girls were nervously wringing their hands and some of them had note cards that they were flipping through. Sydney saw her, waved, and sat down next to Constance. They didn't talk, they just held each other's hands and sat quietly.

Soon the staff came onto the stage and Heckity took her place at the podium. "Well, today is a day that will mark the rest of your lives, whether you chose to rise to the challenge or not is what will show your true character. Now, since all of the teacher's will be needed to monitor the testing today, all of the younger students will have the typical half holiday, which will be spent studying. If we find any student out of line today, there will be serious consequences. All of the students taking the various tests today will go to their assigned rooms following the school song." She stepped of the podium with a cold glare and in the back of the room Miss Treble started playing the tune to the song on the great organ. When that was done with Constance and Sydney hugged briefly and went to their prospective rooms. The tests would have a general knowledge section filled with basic information from each subject and then a specific section dealing with their particular field. They had three hours. Constance sat ready with her ink quill in hand and when Miss Spellcaster rang the bell she began to write furiously. For the next three hours she was in a trance; all outside noises melted away and all of her knowledge swirled around her head. When the test was over she went to get a drink of water. She felt mentally exhausted and when she saw Sydney emerge she could tell that Syd felt the same way. They exchanged glances and went to back to their rooms to relax and talk; it felt wonderful to be done.

The next week at a big assembly, the winners were announced. "For spells; Sydney Cackle, For chanting; Mindy Talkings, For potions; Constance Hardbroom..." Constance heard nothing after her name was called. She walked up on stage and stood next to her friend, in disbelief. She managed a smile as the whole auditorium cheered for them. Heckity stepped up to the podium and began talking, "Congratulations to all of our winners on this momentus accomplishment. However, I do have some bad news; this year the funding to the scholarships has been cut a little short due to some problems in the Ministry of Magic. So in order to pick a winner for the money that we have we are going to have another competition between these five students." Constance stared at her in shock; she had to compete against her best friend.