AN: This chapter is a long one, longer than I had intended, but I hope it's not too hard to read. PM's and reviews welcome.
Chapter 11
When Enid had finished writing out five hundred lines of 'I will endeavour not to let my cat attempt Mongolian chanting on the broom-shed in future' in her best handwriting, she met up with the others at the bottom of the main stairs. "Still worried about Mildred?" Jadu asked in response to the expression on her face,
"Aww, still no sign of Hubble bubble, such a shame, she's probably run away." Taunted Ethel as she pushed past, knocking Enid out of the way, Enid readied a hex to throw at her when Miss Cackle intervened. "Not fighting girls are we?" she asked with one raised eyebrow. "No Miss Cackle," they all replied in practised unison, "Well, run along to bed then and don't let Miss Hardbroom catch you."
The older witch smiled kindly as she spurred them on, sensing the worry rooted deeply in each of their heads as Ethel and Drusilla departed hastily. Just as the group was about to disappear from sight she called out to them in reassurance, "Don't worry girls, I'm sure she'll turn up, Mildred's just very good at hiding that's all." She reminded them. They nodded in subdued agreement, then continued back to their rooms.
Xxx
A gentle tap broke the silence that hung in the night air like thick fog, followed shortly by a low creak as Mildred's door swung open. Maud and Enid tip-toed into the room, taking care to make as little noise as possible, and shutting the door behind them. "Not here then." Enid said decidedly, crossing her arms in a very HB like fashion and leaning against the door. Maud crossed the room to the desk where the Second year spells book lay open and picked it up; still on the same page.
"Nothing's moved, she's not come back." She flicked over a few more pages, "I hope she hasn't done anything stupid, if she has, HB'll do her nut," Maud said ominously, both knowing that that meant expulsion.
"Hey what're these?" Enid piped up, picking up the dried stems from Mildred's pillow, "are these weeds?"
"Weeds?" Maud repeated, taking the bunch from her and inspecting it, "looks like it, but why would they be here?" then a thought occurred to her, "you don't think maybe Ethel put them there as some sort of challenge do you?" Enid cast her a curious look. Upon seeing this Maud elaborated, "Weeds. That's what Mildred called Ethel's sister in cat training. She and Ethel were arguing and she said that all Hallows were weeds,"
Enid's eyes widened in horror, "you don't think Ethel's done something bad to Mildred do you?" she said adding two and two together in her mind, Maud bowed her head, "Somehow I don't think the appearance of that frog was a coincidence." Enid grasped the meaning of her words, "Well we can't do anything about it tonight, let's wait 'till morning, then we'll figure out what to do about this." And so it was decided.
After another fruitless search of the room, in the vain hope that the occupant was hidden somewhere there, the pair slipped back to their own beds; no less worried about their friend. "Oh Millie, where've you gone?" whispered Maud before turning over and extinguishing the candle beside her, inviting the darkness of the sky back in to her room.
xxx
As the rosy fingers of dawn caressed the Walls of Cackles academy, Constance was briskly striding over the marshes, gathering some of the herbs she needed for her Focus Potion. She found the clumps of Rosemary with ease and placed them in the whicker basket she had nestled in the crook of her arm. She knew she had to act quickly as the dawn light would not remain for long and she still had to gather some Lemon Balm.
Dematerialising, she reappeared in the forest surrounded by an abundance of the last gather-able ingredient. Locating a shoot that was bathed in the potent rosy light she detached the leaves from the stem and they too went into the basket. She breathed an uneasy sigh of relief, now her potion could be made, but there was nothing to say that something couldn't go wrong. She prayed to whichever deity was listening that everything would go smoothly, particularly with no interruptions from Mildred Hubble and co.
Now that her ingredients had been collected she could take a leisurely stroll back to the castle; since the incident the day before, miss cackle had agreed to do her morning duties to give her time to 'recover from shock' as she had kindly put it. Muttering a grateful thanks to the older witch she set off on the journey back to the academy.
Xxx
Mildred opened her eyes and shifted in discomfort as the light hit the sensitive retinas. She shuffled slightly to the left and plopped straight into the icy waters of the pond. 'Huh, where am I?' she thought, then she was hit by a wave of anamnesis. HB had turned her into a frog and she was now in the school pond.
There came a rustling sound from somewhere in the nearby vegetation as she quickly clambered back onto the rubbery leaf. To her amazement Miss Hardbroom emerged from the undergrowth, carrying a basket on her arm and singing to herself. 'She has a nice voice' Mildred though, realising that she had never heard HB sing before without the accompaniment of the whole school, 'maybe she's happy because I'm not there,' she thought miserably.
Xxx
Constance stopped and eyed the pond; it couldn't hurt to sit and relax a while could it? After all it wasn't like she had to be back until first lesson anyway, she could easily sneak down to the kitchen for some of Mrs Tapioca's proper food later. She smiled inwardly at the thought, feeling that she had just gained a brief insight into what it felt like to either be a normal five year old, or Mildred
Hubble.
She settled herself down in the dew soaked grass, setting her cloak down first so that she didn't get her leather dress wet, and began to toy with a reed that had fallen in her direction. She spotted he two amphibians, one sleeping, the other eying her warily. The latter amphibian plopped into the water and boldly swam across to the bank where she sat, endeavouring to climb out as hastily as possible when it arrived.
She watched it's antics until it pulled itself onto the soft earth, breathing rapidly from the effort. "Why do I get the feeling I've seen you before?" she asked it, then it struck her, "Ah yes, you're the invisible frog, glad to see you're back where you belong." She informed it. After a few moments letting her mind and eyes wander, she returned her attention to the unmoved creature.
The frog seemed to be looking expectantly at her, she put on a stern face, "I expect you want me to kiss you so you can turn back into a prince," she snorted at the fairy tale reference, "well no chance, I'll have you know that I hate men," she finished with a firm nod.
The frog cocked its head to one side as if asking her why and encouraging her to carry on, "Alright you want to know why, fine I'll tell you," she couldn't see the harm in it so she adjusted her position, drawing up her knees and hugging them to her chest, so that she was more comfortable,
"You'd better stay and listen to this, since you asked." and so she began.
"It was when I was at witch training college as despite the name it taught wizards as well. It was my first year and much to my surprise there wasn't a single rule about liaising with the boys of the college. I was studying under Mistress Broomhead's instruction," Constance shuddered as she said the name, "and she forbade me to even associate with them, threatening all sorts of horrific punishments if she so much as caught me looking at one," she rolled back the sleeves of her dress and traced a few thin silvery scars whispering, "some of which she carried out,"
Mildred felt a pang of sorrow as she spotted the fine lines; ever present reminders of her teachers clearly troubled past.
"Initially this rule didn't bother me too much," she continued, pulling the material back over the scars, "all that changed however when I met Edward, he came and sat next to me in the library one day when I was revising for one of our daily tests. I just looked up to tell whoever it was to go away and there he was, smiling like a drooling Labrador."
A dreamy look crossed her face as she spoke of him," he was a rather attractive man I must admit, even though up to that point I had only seen men as arrogant, I felt different about this one," Her features softened as she continued, "despite these feelings I knew Mistress Broomhead would kill me if she so much as heard a whisper of me being with a boy, so I sent him away," she paused, the image of his hurt face flashed before her eyes as she recalled the harsh words she had said to him, "I felt terrible afterwards and he must have known it, because he followed me back to my room that night."
She chocked slightly as the mixture of hatred and sorrow vied for the top spot on her emotional podium, "Anyway no matter what I said or did, he refused to leave so I ended up letting him in," she made a sound that resembled an angry hiss as she cursed her own stupidity, "I should never have allowed it, I should have stood up to him,"
Xxx
Mildred jumped closer to the distressed woman and began to climb up the folds of leather to perch on her knee, drawing almost level with the reddened eyes. Much to her surprise she wasn't brushed aside angrily as she had expected would happen; instead she prompted a slight smile from her potions mistress. "Strange, one would almost think you cared about what I have to say." The older woman said wearily. Mildred croaked, "I do care what you say Miss, honest I do."
Constance carried on, not wanting to interrupt the flow of words now that they had begun, especially now that she had an avid and un-judging listener. She began to describe the memory that was surfacing from the dark recesses of her mind.
Xxx
Her back was pressed against the hard wall by his arms and his beautiful blue eyes filled most of her vision. "Please stop this, if Mistress Broomhead finds out she'll kill us," she pleaded with him but her cries fell on deaf ears, "She won't find out," he said silkily, "promise," she continued to struggle but the desire to resist slowly ebbed away and a new desire took its place. She leant forward, bringing her face closer and closer to his, feeling his hot breath on her skin as she neared. Her lips opened slightly, and in a fit of uncertainty she clamped her mouth around his, hoping that this was the right thing to do. She shut her eyes and let the sensation carry her with it as his tongue explored the inside of her mouth, wrapping round hers so they danced like a pair of charmed snakes, feeling him driving her towards the bed as he did so.
Xxx
Constance opened her eyes to find she was lying on her back in the middle of the forest; clearly she had gotten a little too carried away by her thoughts. She sat up again, regaining her composure, before continuing. "I can't even begin to describe how much I wanted him at that moment, how much I wanted to share with him, love him," she whispered forlornly, fidgeting as the passionate memory of their love making made her heart flutter. "He said I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and I was caught, hook line and sinker as they say now. Only, that was where it all ended." She said bitterly, the sound of him telling her how beautiful she was ringing in her ears as she spoke. She moaned slightly and buried her head in her hands.
Xxx
The next act of her tragedy opened its curtains before her. She could feel him inside her, in the darkness of her room, feel him move over her and whisper in her ear that he didn't love her, that he had used her for this purpose only, that she meant nothing to him.
Above the sound of her heart breaking she heard the cruel high laugh of Mistress Broomhead, "you see Constance, I told you not to associate with men," the voice taunted, "when will you ever learn Constance, that everything I say and do, is for your own good, insolent child."
She screamed as the pain shot through her for the second time, forcing her to submit to her tutor as the horrific torture began. Then from the corner of her eye she saw him, standing transfixed by the powerful witch, wide eyed in terror. She turned on him, "and as for you" she snarled, flexing her middle finger, "I'll teach you to defile my property," There was a blinding flash of red light, and all that remained, was a hollow corpse.
Xxx
"I lost him." Constance whispered. "I lost him."