There is more on the way soon, I've just been a little too busy with work this week to post earlier. Again thanks for reading and reviewing.
Maud glared at the cauldron on the desk in front of her for the umpteenth time as she tried to make the potion work. It wasn't supposed to be that hard she told herself as she ran her eyes over the list of ingredients again.
Taking in a deep breath, she looked at the contents of the cauldron and then again at the incantation that was supposed to combine with the potion. She was going to try the spell one last time before she finally admitted defeat. Closing her eyes and holding her arms out in front of her, she began the incantation.
When she'd finished the incantation she kept her eyes firmly shut and then crossed her fingers for good luck. There was nothing but silence to fill her ears. Maud was certain that there should at the very least have been a popping sound from the mixture. She slowly opened one eye and looked at the contents of the cauldron. Her heart sank as she realised that nothing seemed to have happened. She opened the other eye and uncrossed her finger and that was when the explosion took place.
Constance Hardbroom had been patrolling the 1st years corridor as was her usual habit at that time of the evening when the explosion rocked the building. She steadied herself and then closed her eyes, working out where in the castle the explosion had originated. Folding her arms, she sighed heavily and disappeared from view.
"Mildred Hubb… Maud Moonshine." Constance quickly corrected herself upon arriving in the lab and confronting the guilty student. "What on earth do you think you are doing?"
"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Maud did her best to look suitably sorry. In fact it wasn't that much of an effort. If she was honest with herself there were still times when the stern Potions teacher scared the life out of her. Ever since that first day at the Academy when HB had disappeared in front of her eyes, she had felt a nagging sense of unease. There was no way of knowing exactly where HB was at any time. They had promised to have regular midnight feasts soon after arriving at Cackles but Maud had quickly made her excuses not to attend; she had always been convinced that Miss Hardbroom was eavesdropping on them somehow. Mildred had told her not to worry but somehow Mildred's reassurances did little to give her confidence. She would have had more belief in Mildred if her friend weren't constantly in Hardbroom's bad books.
"Well girl?"
Maud looked up and swallowed nervously as she realised that Miss Hardbroom was waiting for an explanation as to what she'd been doing. The acrid smell of smoke hung heavy and the air was literally turning blue around her.
"I was… well… I was…." Maud stammered, failing to put a coherent sentence together.
Miss Hardbroom sighed heavily and peered through the blue fog, trying to maintain eye contact with the guilty party.
"Well I'm glad we cleared that up." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "May I suggest to you Maud Moonshine that in future you limit your inept dabbling in the potion world to the work that I set you."
"Yes Miss Hardbroom, sorry Miss Hardbroom."
Constance Hardbroom leant forward and stared at the burnt, foul smelling embers that coated what was left of the inside of the cauldron.
"What on earth were you trying to make?" She glanced sideways at Maud, immediately on the alert, suspecting some second year crackpot scheme.
"I was…" The words dried in Maud's mouth.
"Well?"
Maud watched as an eyebrow arched and she swallowed nervously.
"I was just trying out a concoction of my own."
"Really!" The left eyebrow shot up to join the right and turned Miss Hardbroom's expression from one of suspicion to one of disbelief. "That's very industrious Maud Moonshine, very commendable and very very unlike you." The expression narrowed. "What are you really up to?"
"I wanted to do something to get myself into the play that Haldane is organising." Maud confessed reluctantly.
"Oh the play." Constance's voice dropped as she reached the word play. "Why am I not surprised that Mr Harrington and his 'play' are seemingly at the centre of everything that is going on in this school at the moment?" She leaned in and looked at the contents of the cauldron again. "And prey tell, what exactly were you trying to concoct?"
"Just something to get Mr Harrington to notice me."
"Well Maud Moonshine if you go round blowing up cauldrons and coating the walls with blue goo you are more than likely to get yourself noticed; statistically it's only a matter of time before Mr Harrington is the person who notices."
"Yes Miss Hardbroom."
"But you won't be trying this again will you Maud?"
"No Miss Hardbroom. Sorry Miss Hardbroom."
"I suggest you spend the rest of the evening attempting to clean up the mess you have made of my potions lab."
"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Maud paused, she was sure that there was more coming. "What should I do when I've finished?"
"Maud?"
"Are there lines or…"
"Life is not a play Maud Moonshine, not everything is based around lines be they written or spoken."
"But …."
"Clear it up girl. Do I need to repeat myself?"
"No Miss." Maud said with more than a note of surprise in her voice as Constance faded into nothingness. She had been certain that HB was going to give her several hundred lines or detention at least. She certainly had not been expecting to get off so lightly.
She shook her head with wonderment and then, as the blue cloud began to dissipate, took in the mess that her cauldron had made and her face dropped. Maybe clearing up wasn't such an easy task after all.
Mildred peered around the corner and checked to see if the way was clear. She was supposed to be studying in her room but she'd not been able to settle to it. After a few minutes of staring down at a blank sheet of paper she'd finally made her mind up to go and see Fenella again. There was a question that was nagging away at the back of her mind and she wanted the chance to get an answer to it.
She ducked back into the shadows as the door to the staff room opened and Miss Bat exited the room. Mildred held her breath until she was certain that the chanting teacher wasn't heading in her direction. There was a part of her that was tempted to follow and find out where she was going. Speculation had been rife amongst the students as to what the teachers got up to once the school day was over. Enid had tried to run a book on it last term but as no one had ever been able to find out the answers, the money had remained uncollected. Mildred imagined that Miss Bat spent her evenings talking to plants or singing to them; there were certainly times that she seemed more at home with nature than she did with the pupils or other members of staff.
Forcing her mind back on to the purpose of her journey, Mildred looked up and down the corridor before darting out from the shadows and heading towards the room where they'd quarantined Fenella.
She'd only covered a few metres before she heard a male voice muttering quietly. Acting on impulse Mildred ducked back into the shadows. Common sense told her that the male voice could only belong to one of two people, neither of whom was likely to know that she shouldn't be out of her room at this hour but she didn't want to take the chance.
The voice came nearer and Mildred forced herself further back into the shadows. She quickly decided that the voice was too deep to be Mr Blossom's, which only left Haldane as the speaker.
"Well when are you going to get here?" The tone that she heard him use was far more impatient than usual.
There was a pause and Mildred reasoned that Haldane must be using a mobile. A spark of jealousy ran through her; what she and the others wouldn't give to be allowed to bring phones into the school. Miss Cackle had relented and allowed stereos and MP3 players to be brought onto the premises but the change in the rules had never registered with Miss Hardbroom and she still insisted on whisking away anything that looked as though it belonged to the present day.
"Have you picked up everything that I asked you to?" Haldane demanded to know from the person on the other end of the connection. "No I don't want to delay things." He continued after a few moments. "I think I've found a suitable test subject for the bands. No of course they don't suspect anything. I'm a professional or had you forgotten?"
Mildred let out a slow breath. She had no real idea what Haldane was talking about but she didn't like the sound of it. She strained her ears to listen further to the conversation but Haldane appeared to be moving away from her. Moments later she heard a door slam shut and the sound of his voice faded away completely.
Mildred's mind was racing as she tried to process what she had just heard. Although he'd not said anything that proved he was up to something, she found that she couldn't shake the worry that was fast settling around her shoulders. She made to move from her place in the shadows when she saw, rather than heard, a figure approaching.
Miss Hardbroom swept past her, heading for the staff room. Mildred breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that she'd escaped detection. Skulking around in the corridors was becoming harder than she'd first imagined.
Constance shut the staff room door behind her and moved to stand near the fireplace, noticing with relief that Miss Bat was nowhere to be seen. If there was one thing the upcoming conversation didn't need, it was the inane ramblings of Davina Bat.
"I really think it would be best if Haldane and the others were somewhere that wasn't here." Constance announced.
Miss Cackle sighed.
"You've made that perfectly clear Constance but unfortunately if we are to establish an effective quarantine here in the school that involves no-one leaving as well as no-one entering."
Constance let out an impatient sigh.
"Well can we at least stop this pantomime that is masquerading as a play?"
"I'm sorry but I happen to think that it is just what we need to keep our minds off of what is going on."
"I have just encountered Maud Moonshine who has managed to blow up one of the cauldrons and coat the walls of my lab with blue goo in an effort to impress Mr Haldane Harrington." Constance pursed her lips. "And I've just seen Mildred Hubble lurking around in the shadows as though she imagined that I couldn't see her. Quite what she thinks she is doing is beyond me, but if she is still there in five minutes then I will certainly be having a few words with her."
Amelia suppressed a smile.
"Well at least Haldane's engaging the girls."
"It's what else he's doing to them that worries me."
"Constance!"
"Well anything could be happening." She protested. "We don't know anything about him."
"I know that he's taking the girl's minds off of what has happened to Fenella and he seems to have stopped them worrying about whether it could happen to them."
"What I want to know is what he's filling their heads with." She began pacing backwards and forwards across the room. "I've yet to see any information as to what play his little group intends to put on."
Miss Cackle watched her deputy as she paced and, despite herself, she had to admit that she was interested in finding out exactly what it was that Haldane was intending to do with the girls.
"I'll have a word with Mr Harrington in the morning and see if I can't find out a few details about the upcoming play."
"I'm sure it'll be entirely unsuitable subject matter for our girls." Constance snapped at her.
"Be that as it may, I think it's important that the pupils have some other focus at this time."
"Other focus? Other focus? What's so very wrong with having the girls focus all their energies on work? That's how it was in my day and it never did me any harm."
Miss Cackle bit back the response that came immediately to her mind. Privately she thought that a more relaxed upbringing, away from the persecution of Mistress Broomhead, would have done a young Constance the world of good. She thought it wise to keep her opinions to herself though and made sure that she kept the conversation firmly on the subject of the play.
"Miss Drill has spent more time than either of us in the company of Mr Harrington. When she comes back from her run I'll endeavour to find out what she makes of him."
Constance pursed her lips.
"I think it's plain for all to see exactly what Miss Drill makes of Mr Harrington."
"Are you spreading rumours Constance?" Miss Cackle raised an eyebrow. "That's very unlike you."
Constance let out an impatient sigh refusing to rise to the bait.
"If you'll excuse me, I think I should check in on Fenella." Her face took on a concerned expression. "There's been no improvement in her condition. She's not responded at all to the introduction of a little external magic."
Miss Cackle frowned, all thoughts of teasing Miss Hardbroom banished from her mind.
"We really need to sort this matter out." She agreed. "At least it appears to be an isolated incident."
"I'm sure that's not much of a consolation to Fenella."
Miss Cackle remained silent. Constance had made a very valid point but she was well aware that there was another issue that neither of them was tackling head on. If Fenella didn't recover any of her magical abilities then there was no way that she could be allowed to continue at Cackles. She would have to be asked to leave and neither of them wanted to be the one to break that news to her.
"I managed to get word to the Grand Wizard." She finally announced. "He was pleased that we instigated a quarantine rule but he doesn't have any idea as to what might have happened. He's promised to investigate and get back to us as soon as he comes up with anything."
Constance nodded.
"Perhaps he will manage to come up with something useful." She turned towards the door. "I hope for Fenella's sake that one of us can."
Having finally finished scraping the gunk from the walls of the potions lab, Maud made her way back towards her room. She was surprised to bump into Mildred en route.
"I thought you'd be studying." She chastised her friend. "Going by the results you got in the last test I thought study was going to be your first priority."
Mildred pulled a face.
"I couldn't concentrate." She told her friend. "Plus my room's so cold I keep losing all feeling in my hands. I was trying to see Fenella but I didn't get very far." She looked at Maud's slightly frazzled appearance. "I take it your evening didn't go as planned either?"
Maud nodded guiltily.
"I tried something to get into the play." She looked at Mildred. "I hope you don't mind?"
"Course I don't. I was the one that told you to try something." Mildred reassured her friend. "What happened?"
Maud pulled a face.
"It went wrong." Maud was expecting to have to fend off more questions when Mildred suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Surprised by Mildred's abrupt halt she cannoned into the back of her friend.
"What's up Millie?"
Mildred pointed towards the small group ahead of them where Haldane was bowing neatly to Ethel and Drusilla.
"I bet he's just been talking to them about magic again." She whispered as she watched him make his farewells and head off down the corridor.
"So what if he was." Maud exclaimed in an exasperated tone. "He's already made it clear that he's interested in what we can do."
Mildred shook her head.
"I think he's up to something." She squared up her shoulders. "I'm going to ask Ethel and Drusilla what he was talking about. I bet you a cake at Cosies that it was magic related."
"This is a witches school." Maud reminded her. "Conversations about magic aren't exactly unusual."
Mildred ignored her friend and strode towards Ethel and Drusilla.
"Can I have a word with you two?"
What do you want Mildred Hubble?" Ethel snapped.
"Has Haldane been talking to you about magic again?" Mildred demanded to know.
Ethel looked at Mildred as though she had no right in asking the question.
"Why should you care what Haldane has been saying? It's not as though you've got anything to do with the play."
"Ethel please." Mildred didn't want to be dragged into yet another argument with her classmate. "Has Haldane been trying to find out more about magic?"
"Not that it's any of your concern but yes he's asked a couple of questions. Why?"
Mildred exchanged as nervous look with Maud.
"I told you he was up to something."
"That doesn't prove anything." Maud protested. "Whenever I go home, all my mother wants to talk about is magic."
"Yeah but your mother knows all about magic, she wants to know what you're learning."
"All of this is fascinating." Ethel broke into the conversation. "But do you actually have anything to say?"
"Haldane is up to something and I think you should be very careful of him."
"What?" Ethel looked towards Drusilla and rolled her eyes. "You are so pathetic."
"You're just jealous." Drusilla sneered.
"No." Mildred protested. "It's not like that."
"So Mildred Hubble, tell us what it is like." Ethel took a pace forward until she was toe to toe with Mildred. "It's just like you to come up with some half-baked theory but I can't believe that you expect us to believe it."
"She's just bitter because she didn't get a part in the play." Drusilla moved in behind Ethel. "We all know you were desperate to impress Haldane."
"Ok. Maybe I was at the beginning." Mildred conceded. "But I'm not anymore. I really think he's up to something."
"Turn it off Mildred; we're not going to listen to a thing you have to say." Ethel pushed a finger into Mildred's shoulder. "This is one event that you are not going to take over and ruin."
"Come on Mildred." Maud pulled at her arm. "If they don't want to listen there's nothing we can do about it."
Reluctantly Mildred had to agree that Maud had a point and she turned away from Ethel and Drusilla.
"That's right." Ethel taunted her. "Get back to your study. HB will blow her stack if you're not in your rooms when she comes to check on you."
"She's right." Maud tried again to get her friend to ignore Ethel. "Let's just go."
Reluctantly Mildred let Maud pull her away and back towards the stairs.
"I tell you that he's up to something." She insisted. "Fenny was helping him out just before she..."
"Millie I don't want to hear any more of this. It's ridiculous."
"It isn't." Mildred protested. "Just think about it for a second."
Maud stopped in her tracks and spun round to face her friend.
"I have thought about it Mildred and I can't believe that you'd even think such a thing. It's a terrible thing that's happened to Fenny and I really feel for her but I don't see how you can try and blame Haldane for it."
"Well she was helping him out." Mildred tried to explain herself. "She was seeing him the night before she lost her powers."
"She also saw us the night before. Are you going to try and say that I'm responsible for it next?"
"Of course not." Mildred shook her head. "I can't explain the feeling Maud; I just don't trust him."
"You've been spending too much time in detention with HB; you're beginning to sound just like her." Maud complained as she headed up the stairs. Mildred stared after her friend for a moment before following her. She thought about trying to explain about the phonecall she'd overheard earlier but doubted that her friend was in the mood to listen to anything negative about Haldane. She shivered, trying to lose the feeling of unease that the thought of Haldane now gave her. The only way to convince Maud that something was wrong was to go out and find evidence. That, she told herself, was going to be the next step.
