Whew! Ok folks, I never normally update this quickly, I have no idea what's got into me. (Actually I do, it's a hella lot of chinese takeaway. Good old e-numbers. Good old student diet.) Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Two

No Ordinary Fever

Mildred woke up suddenly in the middle of the night to find Tabby growling at the window.

"It's ok Tab," she whispered. "It's only a storm." She got out of bed and went over to the window, picking up Tabby and cuddling him close as she stared out at the weather. The rain was falling as a steady sheet, the wind blowing it almost horizontal as the occasional bolts of lightning showed an unforgiving landscape in harsh relief. "I wonder if there's anyone out there," she said to her cat. "All alone in the storm, desperately seeking somewhere dry. No one can like being out in this sort of weather Tabby. I know ducks are supposed to enjoy the rain but even they can't be happy in a tempest like this. It's even worse than Wet Week, and that is definitely saying something."

Mildred looked up to the darkest corner of her room, where a scuffling noise could be heard.

"Winky, Blinky and Nod have sensibly decided to stay inside I see." She let Tabby onto the floor, from where he promptly jumped up onto the bed and curled up in the still warm spot under the covers where Mildred's feet had been. "Clever bats." She reached up and stroked the nearest one, although it was impossible to tell which. Just then, another noise reached Mildred's ears, above the roar of the storm and the chirruping of the bats.

"Did you hear that Tab? It sounded like a moan." She went over and closed the shutters, blocking out the noise from outside but also the light. Mildred could just make out the candlestick in the darkness and wondered if she could risk the flame spell without setting her bedstead on fire, incurring Miss Hardbroom's wrath or both of the previous combined.

"What time is it? Surely well past midnight. All the teachers will be fast asleep. I think it will be fine." Mildred was about to cast the spell when the moan came again. It sounded different this time, more like a cry of distress.

"That's it, there's definitely something going on." She took a deep breath and waved her fingers in the direction of the candle. "Inflammatus Inflagradus."

A perfect puff of flame appeared atop the wax, bathing the room in a soft glow. Mildred secretly half-wished that one of her teachers had been there to see it. It was typical she thought, that she could only do things properly when no one was watching. Picking up the candlestick, Mildred ventured across the room and peered around the door into the darkened corridor. A clock on the wall showed her that it was half-past midnight. She listened for the moaning again, finally hearing it to her left. It seemed to be coming from Maud's room.

"Maud?" whispered Mildred, puzzled, as she knocked softly on her friend's door. "Maud is that you groaning? Is everything alright?"

There was no reply so Mildred opened the door a fraction before inserting herself fully. Maud was tossing and turning in bed, mumbling and groaning incoherently in her sleep.

"That's not like Maud," thought Mildred aloud as she crossed the room cautiously. "Normally she sleeps very still and quietly. It must be a pretty horrendous nightmare." She put the candle down on the cabinet next to the bed and tried to wake her friend. "Maud, it's me, Millie. It's only a nightmare. Wake up Maud." Voice alone didn't seem to be having any effect, so Mildred took Maud's shoulders gingerly to shake her, but sprang back almost immediately. Maud was burning up. "Oh no," said Mildred, feeling the panic beginning to flow through her veins like ice. "Oh no, that's not good." She backed off into a corner and stood there for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. It was no use getting into a flap, she told herself crossly. Maud was ill and needed help. But how? Mildred couldn't remember – were you supposed to keep a person with a fever hot or cold? Hot, she finally decided. Weren't you supposed to sweat out a fever? Mildred pulled the covers up to Maud's chin and closed the shutters against the draught from the window. Now what?

Mildred sat on the edge of her friend's bed, wondering helplessly what she should do next. On one hand, Maud wasn't getting better in a hurry. On the other hand...

"Now what do I do?" she asked Maud's cat, Midnight. "I can't just go back to bed and pretend that nothing's happened. There's definitely something wrong; she'll need medicine of some sort, but that means waking up the teachers... and no one wants to do that at half-past midnight."

At that point Maud gave another groan, sounding more pained than ever. Mildred screwed her eyes up tight and made her decision.

"I'll go and find Fenny and Griz. They'll know what to do. They always know what to do. Don't worry Maud. You're going to be fine."

Mildred picked up her candle again and cast a worried glance back at her friend before she left the room.

XXX

Mildred was beginning to think that she'd had a very bad idea when she'd decided to look for Fenny and Griz. Her main problem was that she was helplessly lost and she had no idea where the third years' rooms were in the castle, and despite going back to her own room to put her boots on her feet were like blocks of ice.

"Now what?" she asked as she came to another corridor full of doors, each bearing names she's never heard of. "All the landings in this place look the same. I bet I'm going round in circles without realising." Mildred could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she trudged into the next corridor, her mind on Maud, tossing and turning on the floor below. Wearily she raised the candle to look at the labels on this latest set of doors and life flooded back into her veins like ice water. She'd inadvertently found the teachers' rooms, the one place she was hoping to avoid.

"Drat." She turned to make her way as quickly as possible out of the extremely volatile area. She knew exactly what was going to happen next, and the high, cruel voice in the back of her mind, a voice not unlike Ethel's, hissed 'I told you so' as she tripped over her undone bootlaces and came crashing down onto the flags, the candle extinguishing itself on impact and rolling away down the corridor. Mildred stayed flat on the floor for a few moments, her eyes tightly shut, bracing herself to be yanked upright by the terrifying vision in purple that was Miss Hardbroom in pyjamas.

After a few seconds had passed without incident, however, Mildred dared to think that she might just have got away with it and made to stand up again, thanking whoever it was up there watching over her until a voice from behind made her freeze.

"Mildred?" She turned to see Miss Drill peering round the nearest door, looking utterly perplexed. "What on Earth are you doing?"

The wave of relief that hit Mildred at that point was indescribable.

"It's Maud, she said, scrambling to her feet. "She's got a really high temperature and I was looking for Fenny and Griz but I got lost and ended up here by accident and..."

"Mildred, please calm down and tie up your laces before you wake up someone else." The inadvertent glance down the corridor told Mildred exactly which someone else they were talking about. "Now, let's see what we can do for poor Maud."

Mildred was amazed at how calmly the PE teacher was taking it all as they sped down the corridors in the darkness. It was as if second years threw themselves on the floor at almost one o'clock every night. Mildred shrugged inwardly. For all she knew, they did. It didn't seem to take them half as long to reach Maud's room as the opposite journey had done.

"You're right, she's on fire," said Miss Drill after feeling Maud's forehead. "And no wonder. Open the window Mildred and let some air in. We need to cool her down."

Mildred bit her lip sheepishly and reopened the window she had closed.

"Can you tell what's wrong?" she asked quietly. Maud was still whimpering in her sleep quietly, but not as much as she had been doing.

"She's certainly got a fever and it sounds like she's delirious. I don't know what's caused it."

Mildred thought she could detect a note of worry in Miss Drill's voice. They both looked down at Maud, wondering what to do next.

"It's probably just flu or the like," said the teacher definitively. "We need to get her temperature down, and then she'll be infinitely better. Sometimes the simplest methods are best. Fetch me a cold, wet flannel Mildred."

It isn't hard, thought Mildred darkly as she brought the dripping flannel back from the bathroom. Everything in this place is cold and wet.

"She'll be alright," said Miss Drill on seeing Mildred's worried scowl. "Flu won't hang around for long in someone healthy like Maud." She put the flannel on Maud's forehead and for a while it appeared to be working. She quietened down and didn't seem to be so distressed. Mildred felt like a complete idiot. If she'd known that all it took was a wet flannel then she wouldn't have needed to skulk around the castle.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," she said presently.

"It's alright Mildred. I'd far rather that you woke me up than you spent hours searching for Fenny and Griz. They mean well but the treatments can be slightly suspect."

Mildred laughed in spite of the gloom that was settling in the pit of her stomach.

"I think you should go back to bed, Mildred. It looks as if Maud's going to be ok, and we don't want you falling asleep in assembly."

Mildred was about to leave when Maud suddenly began to shiver violently.

"What's happening?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps we've cooled her down too much."

Miss Drill pulled the covers back over her and checked her temperature, shaking her head.

"She's still burning up, but her hands are freezing. This is no ordinary fever. It's certainly not a simple case of flu, that's for sure. Maud," she called softly. "Maud, can you hear me?"

"Wake up Maud!" said Mildred in despair, but Maud continued in her half-slumber, groaning awkwardly. "Do you think she's in pain?"

"I honestly don't know Mildred. I've never seen anything like this before. We'll just have to keep her head cool and the rest of her warm." Mildred took this as her cue to fetch a fresh flannel. On her return she found Maud shivering even more.

"It must be something magical," said Miss Drill sadly. "You haven't been experimenting, have you?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Mildred. "If I knew it was a spell then I wouldn't be so worried!"

"I'm sorry Mildred, but you've got to admit that it is possible."

Mildred nodded in a melancholy understanding.

"Don't you have any medicine you could give her?"

"Not for anything like this. There's only one thing that I think it could be."

"What?"

Miss Drill was silent, as if saying the words would make it horribly real.

"Witches' flu," she said finally. "But there hasn't been a case at Cackles for years... It was before I started teaching."

"What's witches' flu?" asked Mildred, already sensing that it was not something simple.

"I don't really know, not being a witch myself. It's like flu, but it affects your magical ability as well."

Mildred looked down at her friend sadly as Miss Drill felt her temperature again. Witches' flu sounded serious, but surely Maud couldn't have it. She'd been perfectly healthy all day, not even a sniffle. Although, Mildred thought to herself grimly, they were all living proof that where magic was concerned, absolutely anything can happen.

"Is it serious?" she asked quietly.

"It can be," came the equally worried reply. "You can lose the magic."

Mildred's breath caught in her throat. Maud couldn't just stop being a witch, could she?

"How come you know about it?" she asked Miss Drill.

"You pick things up." She dabbed at Maud's flushed face with the flannel. "Unfortunately I don't know enough. I don't know how to treat it or stop it."

Mildred's heart plummeted to her boots. She stared out of the window at the bleak countryside and the incessant, pouring rain, feeling horribly alone and helpless.

"There's only one person who can really help now." Miss Drill looked up at her in an earnest anxiety, and Mildred, who thought that her heart could sink no further, knew what she was going to say. The nasty voice in her head began to laugh at her cruelly as the teacher spoke again.

"I'm sorry Mildred. You're going to have to get Miss Hardbroom."

A/N: How's it going so far? Press the little blue button, you know you want to...