AN: This chapter starts by backtracking a little to just after the bell has rung and the potions lesson has ended. Here Mildred makes her unglamorous exit with Miss Drill and nearly destroys the lab.
Chapter 9
As the hubbub of voices exiting the potions lab died down into silence, you might have been led to believe that the room was empty. Well you'd have been wrong. A slight sound permeated the still atmosphere, seemingly origin-less and light as a feather.
Mildred breathed a hesitant sigh of relief; she wasn't out of the woods yet. She crawled out from her hiding place beneath the tripod that suspended Maud and Enid's cauldron, still a little unsure of her special awareness, a point immediately proved by one bent leg catching one of the loose rods. There was an almighty clang as the cauldron came crashing down onto the bench, setting off an infernal domino chain with the acidic contents that had been accidentally brewed and left there. Enid had added far too many spider's eggs to the mix, causing it to burn rather than conceal. Luckily for her they hadn't had to test it, one potion disaster had proved too much for Miss Hardbroom and she had desisted from her usual routine of making everyone drink their potions; lest anything else happen.
The acrid solution snaked its way across the desk, dissolving the wood beneath it without mercy, forcing Mildred to flee to another desk and watch the destruction unfold. Rapidly the herbs that lay abandoned on the desk began to curl and wilt, changing from vibrant green to sickly black in seconds as the liquid caressed it. Its next victims to claim were the cauldron support rods themselves, eating away at the canes until one by one they gave in, sending a second cauldron, Ethel's this time, crashing to the desk and then to the floor. Mildred panicked, something characterised in frogs by leaping back and forth aimlessly as Mildred was displaying at that moment, 'oh God, HB'll kill me if she finds out this was me,' she paused in her leaping to try and set her thoughts straight, 'well, I'll just have to make sure she doesn't find out it was me then won't I,' the rational part of her brain mused, 'after all, she's not here and she didn't see me do it,' it continued to point out.
A feeling of guilt dug its claws into her as she dropped down on to the sitting bench behind her, the glimmer of the potion spilling to the floor in a tiny stream catching her eye as she did so, 'HB'll know what to do,' she tried to reassure herself, realising that she was not sure what one got when one mixed an invisibility potion with a failed invisibility potion but hoped that it wasn't bad. The vicious fluid continued to pour from the bench above as Mildred squeezed herself through the gap under the closed door, eating into the aged floor as it did so like a crazed animal.
Out in the corridor the sounds of students enjoying their break floated in the air, filling the atmosphere with uplifting merriment and laughter, all of them completely unaware of the chaos erupting in the lab as the potion sought out more things to burn. 'Now I know why I never liked dominoes,' mused Mildred, 'it's too unpredictable.'
As she continued to dwell in her own thoughts she climbed the mountain of stairs that led back up from the depths of the castle to the inner courtyard. She stopped behind a wheelbarrow to observe Miss Bat singing a lullaby to a pot of trailing ivy, cradling it in her arms and rocking it like a baby as she did so. Just as the eccentric teacher was speaking encouraging words to a sad looking 'Busy Lizzy' with two fingers tickling the drooping head, the other members of the faculty rounded the corner.
"So where is she?" Miss Cackle said sombrely, her hands clasped in front of her in thought, "No one seems to know," answered Miss Drill, " and she didn't attend my potions class," continued Miss Hardbroom, sniffing slightly to disguise the slight smile twitching the corners of her mouth, "looks like its demotion to the first year immediately,"
"WHAT?" Mildred yelled, emitting a loud croak from her mouth as opposed to words. Miss Cackle looked around in confusion, "What was that?" she asked her colleagues, "What was what?" they replied, "That sound, tell me you heard it too," pleaded the headmistress, concerned that her hearing was at last failing her.
"Sounded like a frog to me," Davina chirped airily, ignoring the perplexed looks from the others as she rocked the sad 'Busy Lizzy' in her arms. "Might be that frog from the labs, I'll check my room in a minute," then reigning in the conversation to their original topic she continued, "anyway Amelia we said we would do it and we must stick to what we said," Miss Cackle cast her deputy a doubtful look. Constance, fearing that Miss Cackle was just going to give in to her students blatant disregard for discipline, continued to push her argument earnestly, " otherwise give her too much lenience and she will walk all over us, over you." She finished on what she hoped would be an emotional note. Miss Cackle still looked sceptical, "We mustn't rush into these things," she said simply, keeping Constance in her pen before she could get too much of her own way, causing the witch to let out an exasperated sigh, "Oh very well headmistress," she said in defeat.
As Constance strode away she became aware of an awful stench wafting along the corridor, a third year prank, she presumed, expecting to find Fenella and Griselda loitering around the labs looking gleeful. Nothing could prepare her for what she was about to find.
Xxx
After Constance had stormed past, Mildred decided to find a quiet place to contemplate what she had just heard demotion to the first year; no they couldn't do that to her, it hadn't been her fault that she couldn't help Miss Drill after all, HB must've done all this on purpose. She could see Miss Drill and Miss Cackle still conversing by the table of plants from the first year's attempt at gardening. 'I'll just hop right by them, they can't see me,' she thought wrongly, unaware that the potion was leaving her system as she hopped into plain sight of the pair.
"What's that?" Miss Drill exclaimed, spotting Mildred's head floating seemingly of its own accord, "a body- less frog's head, and it moved," Amelia moved into a position that resembled a sumo wrestler, "we'd better catch it, don't want it hopping all over the school," and with that she made a dive for Mildred.
Xxx
While the rest of the staff were chasing Mildred, Constance cautiously approached the door of her lab, the acrid smell of god knows what was sticking in her throat and making her choke. To make matters worse, she couldn't find anyone she could immediately point the finger of blame at; Fenny and Gris were nowhere to be seen. Fighting back the bile rising in her throat she tentatively pushed against the wood. The sight that greeted her nearly punched a hole in her heart; all her herbs and books were smouldering and dissolving in a bath of acid, all of her hard work from the last fifteen years was crumbling before her eyes, and soon there would be no proof it had ever existed. Firmly shutting the floodgate to prevent the onslaught of tears from escaping, she slammed the door and ran.
Due to the magical nature of potions they couldn't be removed by magic, and even if she were to restore the books and the furniture, it would be for selfish ends. No she had to get someone else to do it. The only person she could think of; Amelia Cackle.
Xxx
"GOT YOU!" Imogen cried triumphantly as she lifted the frog above her head, "Well done Imogen," an exhausted Miss Cackle congratulated her, "Now what do I do with it?" the blonde asked, holding a struggling Mildred up to her face. Waving a hand in the direction of the forest, Miss Cackle replied, "Take it to the pond, that way it won't be near enough to come back in."
A slightly flushed Miss Drill nodded her head and said to the frog, "Come on you back out we go," jogging out the front door before she had finished the sentence. Amelia watched her go fondly and sniffed, wrinkling her nose in disgust, "Ugh, what is that smell?" she turned to loom down the corridor Constance had headed down, aware of the sound of clacking heels; Constance, running, the idea seemed absurd.
"Amelia! Amelia!" the younger witch practically screamed as she flew round the corner, it having never occurred to her to dematerialise. "Constance?" Amelia asked bemused, "Whatever is the matter?"
Next time we join Mildred at the pond and she spends her first night in the castle grounds on a lily pad