Not a Lot of Chapters left. Looking at my plans, We should be finishing on chapter 25. At least before going over to the Sequel fic! I'll be posting the last chapter of this one, and the first chapter of that one, at roughly the same time!

Onwards ever striving!


Chapter 19: The Dreaded Exams

It was Finally Exam week. Midlred had been cramming studying into every spare moment. Her room was littered with books, posted notes, and messy posters. She'd been sleeping, breathing and eating knowledge. And yet.. She felt completely unprepared.

Even Maud and Enid had been worried about Mildred with the amount of Studying she had done. Enid complained that Mildred had lost all her fun thanks to HB. While Maud congratulated her for finally taking school seriously.

The first of the Exams they were on Chanting. Mildred was okay at Chanting. She wasn't "Wow" But she wasnt bottom of the class either. Though, it really depended on the chant. She liked short, sweet chants, that didnt do a lot.

Miss Bat had decided their first Chant would be: Eye of Toad. It was three Verses long.. And it was pretty boring. Mildred dreaded it, but hopefully they have practised it enough that she'd manage it anyway.

The Second Chant they'd be doing, would be in front of the whole school… The Founder's Day Chant. It was only two Verses, but it was important to the school. She could not mess that one up.

In the end, she only messed up a couple of lines in Eye of toad. She said Slur instead of Stir. She doesn't know why anyone would want to Slur it up, But she said it anyway. She also mixed up Hog and Dog. Or was it Dog and Hog? Either way, She got it all mixed up!

It wasn't the end of the world.. She did worse in first year. She ended up singing the wrong song for one of them, and then for the second, she forgot all the words! At the end of the day, as long as she did better than last year, it should be fine.

She Practically froze up at Lunch when they sang The Founder's Day Chant. She could see Miss Hardbroom watching her every move. Previously, it would have been because she was expecting Mildred to Fail, and wanted to watch it first hand. But now, She knew it was because Miss Hardbroom was expecting her to do well.

She Bumbled her way through the first couple of lines, but picked it up, and ended one with the class! She was feeling rather proud of herself. Even earning a small nod of HB. That was good enough for her.

The next exam she needed to get through was Spell science.. They had to write an Essay on the History of the Evolution Transformation. Mildred had read a book on that… Not that she could remember any of it during her essay. She bumbled, and rambled her entire way through it. That was one Exam she was sure she wasn't going to pass.

When she told Miss Hardbroom about it that night, with her arms Flaring about, and her face as red as a tomato, HB had laughed at her. Actually Laughed. And not in a Sarcastic way either. She'd found it funny.

It occurred to Mildred, She'd seen Hardbroom smirk a bit, smile once or twice. But never a genuine laugh. She had to assure Mildred that she didn't find her failing an exam funny. But, she did find how worked up she was getting to be quite funny. In the end, it made Mildred smile, feeling far less stressful about the exam. Even when HB Made a comment about her grades suffering, she still felt less awful about it, either way.

The next exams for that week we're the Potions exams.. She knew Miss Hardbroom would throw them for a loop. But, she also knew that whatever loop she threw, they had already looked at.

First they did a Truth Potion. She Added in a little too much Beetle Juice, But the potion still worked! That to Mildred, was an Absolute win!

Next up was the Translation Potion. Mildred should have known this one like the back of her hand! Mildred spent a few minutes trying to figure out if she should throw in Knotweed or Nettleweed! In the end she eenie meenie miney mo'd it, and threw in the Knotweed! She was one of the last to complete it, but at least she got it right. Coming in at fourteen languages.. She was one of the weaker ones in the class, she supposed. But it doesn't matter how many languages you can speak from it.

And lastly, the class had to share a grone of pain as they heard the words 'rock transformation potion'. It was a third year potion that turned the drinker into a rock. You just had to hope HB would turn you back afterwards. Mildred.. Got nothing right.. Instead of turning into a Rock, She turned her hair into a Pineapple.

The Class Laughed at her. She didn't blame them. She'd laugh if someone else's hair was turned into a Pineapple. The one person not Laughing.. Was Miss Hardbroom. Whos Voice dipped into its dangerous Whisper. "Perhaps you would like to see if Miss Cackle can fix your.. Problem." She pointed to the door. "And while you're at it, you can tell her how you failed your potions exam".

She felt like she'd let her down. This HB, Stood here, telling her she'd failed, was so different to the HB from just a few nights before. That HB was laughing at her eccentric behaviour. She supposed that was the difference between the Teacher and the Guardian.

Miss Cackle Had been disappointed, but not surprised. She'd Turned Mildreds Head back to hair, and told her the importance of practice. Using her caring and supportive voice. That Voice, That really made you want to try harder.

She could have done without Ethel's snide remarks of how 'A real witch would have been able to turn her own hair back.'. There was something about Ethel that just got to Mildred. It made her feel as if an angry spider was running up her spine. She knows she shouldn't listen to a word she says, but it was hard when she was always so loud about it!

Thankfully, Friday came fast. And it was time for the last of the exams. Flying. On the day, they were each given a sheet of paper with their flying instructions. Each one is different from the next. This was so there wasn't many advantages to those going last, What with watching everyone else all day.

Sat at the judges Table was Miss Drill, Miss Cackle, And HB. It reminded Mildred of her first ever Assessment for flying. It was quite frankly nerve racking. She just wanted to cry, before she even had the chance to fail. All her hard work had been for nothing this week. Well.. Not for nothing. She'd learned quite a bit. Just.. Nothing that would help her with any of her exams, it seems.

She Put Tabby in her bag, and flew. Doing a few harsh turns, One Barrel Roll, Going Straight up and straight down. Dodging Through trees! Dodging being the key word, She flew into a few branches that made her flying less than brilliant. In The end she landed with only a few leaves and twigs attached to her. Still better than last time. Maybe they'd make a flyer out of her yet!

But now, with everything out of the way, the hard part really began. The waiting.


Do Remember to let me know what you think! Only 6 More chapters to go, where do you think this is heading?