Young Scunge I have to confess I'm a little worried about your upcoming story. It's 'Eeking out of your brain'! It sounds very messy and probably very painful but I'm hoping that it will come together for you and I look forward to reading it. (Keep with it.)
Lily Anne: Many thanks for the review and I'm glad you like it so far. I was trying to keep the story within the world established in the series but in future chapters it may divert away a little.
Meanwhile on to Part 6 (It's all coming thick and fast now! This can't last.)
Amelia looked up wearily from the work she was trying to get through as Constance swept into the room, her swift movements causing many of the papers on the desk to scatter and cascade to the floor. She sighed inwardly. There were times when Constance's sense of the dramatic annoyed her. She was perfectly capable of transporting herself into a room with the minimum of fuss and indeed seemed to take a certain amount of pleasure in frightening the life out of the other members of the Academy, students and staff alike by her sudden appearances; so why she persisted in these grand sweeping gestures was a little beyond her.
"What is it Constance? If it's about the buckled shoes that one of the first years is wearing, I am well aware of it. She has issues at home."
"It's happened again."
"What's happened again?" Amelia was immediately on the alert. It was unlike Constance to appear so flustered that was unless someone happened to utter the words Hecketty Broomhead.
"It's one of the third years." Constance seemed at a loss for words.
"What about one of the third years?" Amelia looked at the pile of letters that she still had to work through and then at the expression on Constance's face. She'd promised herself the merest sliver of cheesecake when she'd gotten through the postbag but she was beginning to realise that it might be a very long time indeed before she completed the task. "What exactly is going on Constance?" There was a hint of impatience in her tone. "If this is about the multi-coloured hair bands again I've told you that I permitted them."
"This is more serious than that." Constance moved to stand at the fireplace and leant against it, her forefinger and little finger pointed as always. Amelia wondered if there was ever a time when she wasn't expecting trouble. "It's Fenella Feverfew." Constance explained. "I don't think she's ever going to graduate now."
Amelia shut her eyes and tried to recall the student in question.
"Well I agree she's not the most adept witch we've ever had at Cackles but I think you're being a little harsh."
"That's not what I mean." Constance snapped. "She won't graduate because she doesn't have any magic."
"What!"
"There's nothing. It's all gone."
"Be reasonable Constance. A witch does not lose her magic overnight."
"Well I'm telling you that Fenella Feverfew has." Constance moved away from the fireplace and towards the window. "She came into the potions lab this morning and it was as though she'd never seen a bubbling cauldron before in her life."
Amelia rubbed a hand across her chin.
"Are you sure that this isn't just the third year's idea of a joke?"
"Are you inferring that I don't know the difference between a practical joke and a serious problem?" There was more than a hint of hurt and indignation in Constance's voice. "I've been teaching long enough to know all the tricks that these girls can play and I'm telling you that this is serious." Constance turned to stare out of the window. "I've seen this before and it didn't end well."
Amelia sat back in her chair, all thoughts of the letters now forgotten.
"How could this happen?"
"Evil is afoot. Something dark walks amongst us."
Amelia shivered at the dark tone of voice. There were times when she had to admit that Constance Hardbroom had the ability to scare the life out of her.
"Don't be so dramatic." She chided.
"What so you think it's normal for a witch to lose her powers?" Constance turned to face her and her eyes were blazing. "This could be the end for all of us."
"Where is Fenella now?"
"What?" Constance seemed thrown momentarily by the question. "I took her to the sickbay and asked Miss Drill to stay with her. I tried to tell the girls that it was nothing serious but they all seemed more than a little shaken by what happened."
"Where are the rest of the girls now?"
"I sent them back to their rooms. There was no way that they would settle to a lesson after that."
"Hhmm." Amelia considered the matter for a few moments. "I should go and see Fenella and see how she is."
"'Seeing how she is' is not going to tackle the root of the problem." Constance tried to point out.
"Well I happen to think that it's a good place to start. I want to see the girl for myself before I make any snap decisions."
"But Miss Cackle…"
"Constance please… If we have some sort of magical disease at work here we need to make sure that every step is carefully taken."
"Oh very well." Constance grudgingly agreed.
Imogen lowered the magazine she had been flicking through and regarded Fenella as she lay sleeping peacefully. Outwardly, there was no sign that anything untoward had happened to her, although Imogen had to confess that she had no idea of what a witch who had lost her magic was supposed to look like. There was a part of her that wished that Miss Hardbroom had picked on someone else to watch over Fenella. What was she supposed to do if the girl woke up? What was she supposed to say? Of all the people in the school, Mr Blossom and Mrs Tapioca aside, she was probably the worst choice of nursemaid. How was she supposed to adequately empathise with a girl who had just lost powers that she herself had never had first hand experience of? Patting her arm and saying 'there, there' just wasn't going to cut it.
She chewed nervously on a nail and willed someone to come through the door and lend her a hand. A grazed knee or a bump on the head she could deal with without any problem but this was something that was way beyond her. As if on cue she heard the latch being lifted on the door and moments later Miss Bat poked her head around the opening.
"How is she?" Davina wanted to know.
Imogen shrugged her shoulders.
"She's been sleeping since I arrived."
Davina nodded her head.
"It's probably for the best. Poor girl must need the rest."
Imogen rose to her feet and drew Miss Bat to one side. Although she was fairly certain that there was no way that Fenella could hear her, she didn't want to risk upsetting the girl.
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
Miss Bat nodded vigorously.
"Oh yes. I've done the evening room check many times over the years and I've seen plenty of the girls sleeping." She beckoned Imogen closer as if sharing some great secret. "Some of them even snore you know."
Imogen did her best to suppress a sigh.
"I meant have you ever seen one of the girls lose their magic before?"
"Ooh no." Davina drew her shawl closer around her shoulders as though that offered some sort of protection against whatever it was that was going on. "I think Constance is the only one who's seen anything like this." Davina paused for a moment. "That is unless she's just showing off and claiming she's seen it just to get attention."
Imogen didn't bother to suppress a second sigh.
"Was there something that you wanted Davina?"
"I was just checking up on Fenella."
"Right."
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom.
"I see the first years are safe in your hands Miss Bat?" Constance remarked sarcastically.
"What? What?" Miss Bat replied flustered.
"You are supposed to be teaching the first year at the moment Davina. Perhaps you could go and make sure that they are not currently running amok in your classroom!"
"Ooh. Yes." Miss Bat hurriedly made her excuses and dashed from the room.
Constance pursed her lips as she watched the chanting teacher scurry past her and then turned her attention to Imogen.
"Has she woken up since you've been here?"
Imogen shook her head.
"I take it you gave her something to help her sleep?"
"You could say that."
Imogen frowned.
"You gave her something magical?"
"Naturally." Constance answered brusquely.
"Was that wise?"
Miss Cackle crossed to Fenella's bedside and provided the answer for Imogen.
"In the circumstances it was probably the best thing to do." She caught sight of the doubt on the gym mistresses' face. "It's possible that Fenella hasn't completely lost her knowledge of magic. A little magic introduced into her system could be just what she needs to jog her memory and help her find her own."
Imogen shook her head and rose to her feet.
"You know there are times when I swear that I will never understand witches."
Miss Cackle smiled gently.
"We're not all that different." She nodded down at Fenella. "Thank you for sitting with her."
"It's ok." She gestured towards the door. "I've got a class starting soon. I'll leave Fenella in your capable hands."
Miss Cackle nodded in ascent and Imogen left the room.
"She seems to be sleeping peacefully enough."
Constance shrugged her shoulders.
"I wanted to make sure that she got plenty of rest. She was a little… shocked when she realised that her magic had gone."
Miss Cackle looked down at the sleeping girl. Nothing seemed outwardly wrong with her.
"You say you've seen this before. What happened?"
Constance folded her arms and cast her mind back to her final year at college.
"There was an outbreak amongst my class and 3 witches completely lost their powers."
Miss Cackle contemplated what Constance was saying.
"Are you certain that it was an illness and not just some disgruntled witch getting her own back?"
"Mistress Broomhead may be many things but I don't believe that even she would resort to such measures."
"Hhmmm." Amelia was less than convinced. "You know her better than any of us Constance and if you're sure…"
"I'm sure Headmistress. I doubt even Mistress Broomhead would do something that terrible."
"Was a cause ever established?"
Constance shook her head.
"Nothing was ever made public. It was passed off as some kind of isolated virus and the details buried."
"So they could have kept files from you." Amelia pointed out but Constance shook her head.
"I took a look at them myself and the reports indicated that no-one had any idea what was going on." She tailed off as she realised what she was confessing to. She turned her head towards Miss Cackle and saw eyebrows raised in her direction. "It was a time of crisis." She tried to explain. "We wanted to know what was going on."
"So you broke into the college files?"
Constance pulled a face.
"I wouldn't necessarily have called it 'breaking in'. Nothing was damaged and I left no indication that I'd ever been there."
"Constance Hardbroom, I never thought of you as a lawbreaker."
Constance shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't really think that any of that matters now."
"No, you're right." Amelia returned her attention to the matter at hand. "I'll get on to the Grand Wizard and see if he can't shed some light on what's going on."
"Must we involve him?" Constance asked with a sigh.
"Of course we must."
"Very well, but may I suggest that we instigate a quarantine within the school, prevent anyone from outside coming in?"
"It's a good suggestion, if there is a virus it's better to prevent it from spreading as best we can."
"My thoughts exactly." Constance lied smoothly; if there was one thing she didn't need at the moment it was the Grand Wizard parading around as though he owned the place and insisting that he was the only one who really understood what magic was about.
"I'm going to sit with her a while." Miss Cackle announced and Constance nodded.
"Classes will continue as normal for the time being until we can find out what happened."
"Where is our visitor at the moment?"
"The second years are currently enduring another of Mr Harrington's masterclasses in the Great Hall." Constance placed emphasis on the word masterclass and Miss Cackle winced in response. She had hoped that by now her deputy would have come round to the idea of having the actor in the school but it appeared as though she was still as strongly against the idea as she had been from the beginning.
"We've certainly got to keep the news away from him as much as we can. We don't want the poor man panicking and demanding to leave."
Constance shrugged her shoulders.
"It would be simple enough to stop him."
Miss Cackle glared at her deputy.
"You will not use magic on Mr Harrington under any circumstances. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly clear headmistress." Constance replied smartly. "With your permission?" She waited for the nod from Miss Cackle before disappearing from the room.
Haldane finished his talk and looked down at the girls. They were all so engaged in his talk that it seemed a shame to him to end the session there. He sat down on the floor and motioned for the girls to join him.
"I guess that the best way for me to really explain what I was just talking about is to apply the theory to real people."
"What do you mean?" Ruby wanted to know.
"Well I was talking about how important it is to make any character you play believable.
An easy way to understand how your character will react in any situation is to take real people and compare the way that they would react." Haldane looked at the confused expressions on the faces of the girls and realised that he needed to make himself clearer.
"Lets take your teachers as an example. Imagine that one of your potions went a bit wrong and…let's say it started sending bolts of lightening around the class." He paused and waited for the laughter to die down. "How would each of your teachers react?" Haldane looked round at the girls. "Come on, it's safe to say what you think. I'm not going to report back to them. This is just an exercise. What would Miss Drill do?"
"Run and get one of the others." Ruby was the first to break the silence.
"Good." Haldane encouraged her. "And why would she do that?"
"Because she's not a witch. She wouldn't have any way of stopping what was happening."
"Exactly." Haldane smiled warmly at her and Ruby grinned at the others, pleased with her success.
"Let's continue that idea." Haldane encouraged them. "What would…Miss Bat do?"
The girls looked at each other before smiling and replying as one.
"Run and get one of the others."
Haldane looked a little taken aback and Maud thought it best to try and explain.
"Miss Bat might be great as a chanting teacher but I'm not sure exactly how strong her command of magic is."
Enid took up the explanation.
"The last time one of Mildred's potions got a little out of hand it took Miss Drill two days to talk Miss Bat out from under one of the beds."
Haldane raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Really." Maud agreed. "I don't know how she ever got through her witch exams."
"Ok ok." Haldane decided to move things on. "So lets think about those teachers in this school who do command a decent level of magic. Who do you think is more likely to go and tackle the problem head on?"
"Miss Hardbroom." The girls chorused as one. Again Haldane looked surprised by their answer.
"What about your headmistress?" He asked them. "Surely as head of the school she'd be the one to tackle things?"
Mildred shook her head.
"She usually leaves things to Miss Hardbroom."
"Interesting. So do you think that's because Miss Cackle is the senior witch and delegates or is it because Miss Hardbroom has a better command of magic?"
"I reckon Miss Cackle has more tricks up her sleeve than she lets on." Jadu decided.
Maud shook her head.
"No way Jadu. Whenever she wants anything major done she calls on HB."
"Yeah but that's just cause she's the head. What's the point of being the boss if you can't delegate."
"I think HB wins this one hands down." Ruby agreed.
Mildred watched the debate unfold. She had never really thought about the magical skill of their teachers before.
"When was the last time you saw Miss Hardbroom use a potion or actually have to incant a spell?" Maud continued with her championing of HB. "We spent two days in the potion lab perfecting our invisibility potions and yet HB can make herself disappear without seeming to think about it."
The girls fell silent as they actually thought about what Maud was saying.
"Don't forget she transported all of us to the Great Hall last year." Mildred recalled. "I still want to know how she managed that."
"Do you think any of us will ever reach that level?" Enid asked in a hushed voice.
"Course we will." Jadu assured her but her tone lacked conviction.
"Just how powerful do you think she is?" Ruby asked, also bringing her voice down to a whisper as if fearing that Miss Hardbroom could hear her.
"She can't be that powerful." Jadu reasoned. "She wouldn't be teaching here if she was."
"Miss Cackle's sister seemed scared of her." Maud recalled with a shudder remembering the night that Agatha Cackle and her cronies had attempted to take over the school.
"Imagine having that much magic at your fingertips." Mildred breathed. "Being able to do whatever you wanted without having to worry about spells and potions."
"She does use incantations though." Ruby argued.
"I reckon that's just for effect." Maud confessed. "The sound of HB reciting a spell scares the life out of me." Maud looked around to make sure that Miss Hardbroom really was nowhere to be seen and suddenly remembered that Haldane was still there. "Sorry Haldane." She apologised quickly.
Haldane raised his hands.
"Don't apologise, this is exactly what I wanted you to do. Looking at people in this way can help when you come to play a character. There are times you have to forget about the way that you would react and instead think about the way that the character you are playing would react." He looked around at the small group and saw that there were still a couple of confused faces. "Take your Miss Hardbroom, you've just described a lot about the way that she reacts and the way that others view her. If in a play I wanted you to act like her, you'd know that you'd be able to take on trouble and also scare the life out of others in the process."
"I get it." Ruby exclaimed. "If I were playing Miss Cackle I'd pass on the major magical duties to my deputy and concentrate instead on where my next cheese fix was coming from."
The rest of the girls burst out laughing but Haldane didn't understand the joke.
"Miss Cackle has a thing about cheese." Ruby explained. "It doesn't really matter what sort of cheese it is. She'll eat any of it."
"Even the really smelly stuff." Enid agreed.
"Excellent." Haldane clapped his hands together. "I can see you really are understanding what I'm trying to teach you." He looked at his watch. "Alas it seems that time has caught up with us."
The girls let out a groan and Haldane smiled at them.
"Do we really have to go?" Ethel wanted to know.
"Not all of you." Haldane told them. "Miss Cackle gave me permission to hold rehearsals for those of you who are taking part in the play."
Mildred felt her heart sink. She knew that most of the other girls in the room were involved with the play in some way.
"Isn't it time you were going Mildred?" Ethel leant forward and whispered in Mildred's ear. "There's no place for losers in this room."
"Shut up." Mildred hissed back.
"No one likes a loser." Ethel taunted her. "Couldn't even pass a simple audition. I'm surprised Maud's still speaking to you after what you did. If I was her I wouldn't want anything to do with you."
Mildred wanted to tell Ethel to shut up but a part of her agreed with what Ethel was saying. It was her fault that Maud didn't have a part in the play and she'd really been keen to get involved.
"Come on Millie." Maud nudged her friend gently in the ribs and Mildred reluctantly rose to her feet.
"See you later girls." Haldane told them as they made their way from the room.
"Loser!" Drusilla coughed as the pair of them reached the doorway. Mildred turned back to glare at her but Drusilla just smiled sweetly at her.
Maud pulled on her friends arm and made sure that they left the room before Mildred did something that would only land her in more trouble.
"I take it that there's no improvement with Fenella?" Imogen enquired as she entered the staff room later that afternoon.
"No change I'm afraid." Miss Cackle informed her. "We haven't contacted her parents yet, I want to give it a couple of days before we make a formal announcement to them."
"What about the girls?"
"What about them?"
"We have to tell them something."
Amelia frowned.
"I was rather hoping that we could keep this quiet."
"I don't think that that's going to be possible. Some of the 3rd years were there when Fenella realised she'd lost her magic. Rumours will spread like wildfire if we don't make some sort of announcement."
"Hmm. You may have a point." Amelia grudgingly agreed. "But what do we tell them?"
"You could try the truth."
"And send the girls into a panic. I don't see what good that would achieve." Constance appeared out of thin air and Imogen took a moment to recover from the shock.
"How long have you been listening in?" She demanded to know.
"Long enough to realise that what you are suggesting is foolish in the extreme."
"And what would you have us do? Push everything under the carpet and pretend nothing has happened?"
"Of course not." Constance replied huffily. "I just think it would be wiser to coat the truth with a little white lie. If we tell the girls that there is something in the school that has drained the magic from one of their friends and we don't have a clue how it happened or if it will happen again, what precisely do you think the girls will do? Hmmm? I rather think they will panic and I for one do not wish to spend the rest of the day dealing with near hysterical girls."
Imogen opened her mouth to argue but she grudgingly realised that Constance had a point.
"What do you suggest that we tell them?"
"Perhaps that Fenella was indulging in some extra-curricular magic and it went a little awry. Not only should that keep the girls quiet it should also scare the others into curtailing their recent out of hours venturing into my potions lab."
"It's a good idea Constance." Amelia told her deputy. "I suggest we call everyone together in the great hall this evening and make the announcement."
"As you wish headmistress." Constance replied smoothly and crossed the room to the urn.
"Aren't you going to ask how Fenella is?" Imogen followed her colleague across the room.
"I very much doubt that anything has changed in the four minutes since I last saw her."
"You've been to see her?" The surprise was plain in Imogen's voice.
Constance finished filling her mug and turned to face Imogen.
"You find it surprising that I see fit to check in on one of my students?"
"Well… er…no of course not." Imogen didn't want to confess that she was indeed very surprised to find out that Constance had actually taken the time to see how Fenella was.
Despite the best efforts of the staff, the Great Hall was buzzing with the news that someone had lost their powers. The details were initially sketchy but they quickly spread from table to table.
"So what do you think happened?" Maud asked as the gossip concerning Fenella Feverfew spread to their table.
"I overheard one of the 3rd years saying that HB did it because she thought that Fenny was getting too powerful." Jadu whispered.
"You don't believe that surely?" Maud protested.
"Why not?" Enid wanted to know. "We all know what a right cow she can be."
"But she wouldn't do something like that." Maud protested. She looked to Mildred for support.
"Maud's right. I know HB can be mean but she'd never misuse her magic like that."
"Can you think of any way else it could have happened?" Jadu demanded to know, dropping her voice to a whisper as Miss Bat walked past the table. "There's no-one else here who'd have the power to do it."
"I think we should wait until someone officially tells us what's going on." Mildred tried to persuade the others but Enid scoffed at the idea immediately.
"You honestly think that they're going to tell us the truth?" She beckoned the others to lean in. "I think we should try and get a look at the records ourselves."
"I wouldn't recommend that as a productive use of your time." Miss Hardbroom boomed from behind the group, noting with pleasure the way that all five of them jumped in shock. "I've found that breaking into school property can lead to extended time spent in detention."
"We were just…" Mildred began to try and explain but Miss Hardbroom cut her short.
"I'm well aware what 'you were only just' Mildred Hubble and whilst some might say it's commendable for you to be so concerned about a fellow pupil, others would point out that we would have nothing to gain by trying to hide anything from you." Constance glanced at each of the girls in turn. "Seeing as you are all so concerned you will be pleased to hear that Miss Cackle is holding a meeting in the Great Hall after dinner to explain the matter to you all. I want no more talk of conspiracies and breaking into school property. Is that clear?"
"Yes Miss." The girls chorused and cast their eyes back down to their plates.
