A strong smell of well-done petals sticking to the copper bottom brought her back to her senses and Constance busied herself with the last ingredients. Finally there was a pop and a hiss and after what seemed more time than it should have taken, the potion was ready. Constance measured in to numinous small bottles counted out what was needed plus a couple spare and set the remainder aside to keep for later on. Extinguishing the heat and putting lids on the other left till lukewalm, Constance made doubly sure to lock the door behind her this time and headed upstairs with her bottles all neat in rows on a tray for what seemed far more than the third time that day.
Usually there was only one thing worse than a student with flu, and that was an epidemic of students with flu. Now Constance had discovered that a school full of sick girls would have been easier to handle then compared to her current situation of not just the bit-more-then-half but not-quite-two-thirds percentage of the students confined to bed and setting aside work so them so they could catch when they were better.
Also not only was she playing witch-doctor, continuing her normal duties of a deputy and teacher but Frank, Imogen and Amelia, the only three members of staff that Constance could normally rely on even if it was in a very roundabout way, had come down with the virus. This left her with only Bat and Ms Tapioca and the dwindling restless bored and boisterous but otherwise healthy young witches for company, making sure that they espesilly those from her form not effected by illness where getting on with their studies rather than up to mischief.
She'd already had to dispose of a smuggled mini tool kit and bits unknown gadgetry brought in by Ruby; deprived Drusilla of three bags of toffees on three separate occasions ("just where was she getting them from?" Constance thought. "More to the point how on earth was the scrawny girl able to put all that rubbish away?"); confiscate numinous comics, gossip magazines and a issue of PlayWitch that the girls had been studying rather than the books they were supposed to be reading not just using to hide the banned reading material in- and frankly, the less said about Fenella and Griselda, the better…
Pests.
It was all enough to make Constance wonder why she'd even bothered becoming a teacher in the first place, particully at a boarding school. Certainly not for the paychecks. Still, she had a duty to uphold.
Starting with the Worst Witch then moving down the dorms, Constance made an impressive sight as always, striding down the corridors in upright matronly fashion despite the black dress and the bat emblazed across the chest of her apron. the tray of remedy potions floating along obediently behind her, as one cannot stride or operate locked doors with an armfulls of jingling glass bottles.
She spent the next hour and a half making sure Mildred had drunken plenty of water, ignoring Crowfeather's whining in favour treating Jadu's migraine and putting down Ethel threats of what'd happen when-her-father-heard-about-this as feverous disillusions. She also shooed a worried Maud from skulking around her friends room's deciding an essay would help in reminding the girl she was not immune to illness, found someone to cover for Mr Blossom's cleaning duties on discovering Enid was faking the flu with a mild touch of self administered magic lurgy, argued with Ms Tapioca wether it was really nessary to take a rather amushed Ameila a slice of cheese cake with every cup of tea and pointed out she orgt to be making a start on lunch rather then fussing over Frank or any 'Bambinos' and reassured (well tried to reassure) Miss Bat they where not going to all die a horrible death nor where they suffering from the pluage (she tried, then gave up very quickly!); along with summoning drinks and compresses for those who needed it, Subtly fluffing pillows, magically sealing rooms that where too drafty and replenishing blankets to threadbare to aid bed rest.
Not that she'd tell anyone about that last bit of coarse, couldn't have the girls thinking she was going soft on them just because they were sick.